QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Use of Child Refugees by Syrian Military
February 19, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. During Question Period on February 6, Senator Gold, you stated that the Fatemiyoun Division “comprises mostly Afghan refugees who were recruited both from Iran and Afghanistan.”
Senator Gold, are you aware that the Afghan refugees have been targeted by the Iranian government looking for military manpower in its alliance with Assad? Children as young as 14 are promised a few hundred dollars a month or immigration status in Iran to fight on the side of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Senator Gold, are you also aware that many of these children have been used as human shields and have never made it back to their families? My question is this: What discussion, if any, has Minister Champagne had with his Afghan counterpart on this very serious matter?
I thank the honourable senator for the question and for raising the most important and heartbreaking examples of children being abused and enlisted into such activities.
I will make inquiries of the minister and, if he is able to provide the answers, I will certainly share them in this chamber.
