KURDS in northern Syria carry out arbitrary arrests and fail to investigate the killings and disappearance of political opponents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed today.

The Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in neighbouring Turkey, has run three Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria since 2012, when Syrian government forces withdrew.

HRW said that it had found children who had been recruited into the PYD police force and into the party’s armed wing. 

Kurdish opposition members have also been convicted in unfair trials and detainees have complained of abuse, the New York-based rights group alleged.

“The Kurdish-run areas are quieter than the war-torn parts of the country, but serious abuses are still taking place,” claimed HRW deputy Middle East and north Africa director Nadim Houry. 

“The PYD is firmly in charge and must halt the abuse.”