A/HRC/21/50 subjected to electrical shocks to the genitals. There were multiple reports of detained minors held in the same cells as adults. 108. The commission received reports of the rape and sexual assault of girls under the age of 18 (see annex VII). 109. No evidence of Government forces formally conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 18 was received. However, three incidents were documented in which Government forces used children as hostages or as human shields. 110. Schools in various locations across the Syrian Arab Republic were looted, vandalized and burned in response to student protests. Various accounts described their use by Government forces and Shabbiha members as military staging grounds, temporary bases and sniper posts (see paragraphs 116–125 below). 111. Reports also indicated that injured people, including children, feared to seek medical treatment at public hospitals. Many children were brought to field clinics that could treat only minor injuries. 112. Evidence gathered indicated that children‘s rights continue to be violated by Government forces and the Shabbiha. The legal conclusions reached in annexes IV, V, VII, VIII and IX apply. 113. The detention of adults and children together is in breach of the Government‘s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, unless a separation breaches the right of families to be housed together. 2. Anti-Government armed groups 114. Eleven interviewees, including four minors, discussed the use of children by antiGovernment armed groups. All stated that anti-Government armed groups, including the FSA, used children in support roles, such as assisting medical evacuations or as couriers. Five interviewees stated that the anti-Government armed groups used children under the age of 18 — and in one account, under 15 — as fighters. 115. The commission considers that there is currently insufficient information to find that anti-Government armed groups used children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities. It notes with concern, however, the reports that children under 18 are fighting and performing auxiliary roles for anti-Government armed groups. I. Attacks on protected persons and objects 116. The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic has generated thousands of casualties. Hospitals and clinics have been caught up in hostilities. Field clinics have been deliberately targeted. Civilian objects, such as schools, municipal buildings and hospitals, are routinely occupied by Government forces seeking to establish a presence. Underground field clinics are poorly equipped, unsterile and lack basic tools, medical supplies and blood. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is also active in providing for the medical and humanitarian needs of the conflict-affected. 117. International humanitarian law not only prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian objects but also requires their protection.23 The commission collected video materials and 23 This protection remains in place unless the protected persons or objects take part in hostile acts. See annex II, paras. 30–42. 19