A/HRC/28/69 context of their military operations. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, 160 children were killed in attacks on schools in 2014. Regular armed forces have also used schools for military purposes, depriving children of education and exposing educational facilities to attack. 69. Some children who have been displaced or sought refuge in neighbouring States have been out of school for two to three years, increasing the risk of radicalization among adolescent youth. Armed groups have taken advantage of children who are displaced and detached from their communities. Children have been recruited, trained and used in active combat roles. Doctors working in field hospitals regularly treat minors injured in combat. The use of schools by armed groups for military purposes has endangered children and led to their injury and death. Anti-government armed groups have systematically targeted schools and schoolyards, killing, injuring and maiming children. 70. ISIS has instrumentalized and abused children on a scale not seen before in the Syrian conflict. It has established “cubs camps” across areas under its control, where children are taught how to use weapons and trained to be deployed as suicide bombers. In September and October 2014, minors were part of ISIS forces during its assault on Ayn alArab (Kobane). Children have been deliberately targeted for indoctrination and instrumentalized by ISIS. ISIS has also used schools for military purposes, endangering children and preventing their access to education. 71. The YPG has abducted children and accepted children into their ranks. Despite an international commitment to the contrary, they have deployed children in active hostilities. 72. More than half of Syrian school-age children, up to 2.4 million, are out of school as a consequence of the occupation, destruction and insecurity of schools. With increasing numbers of children being recruited to fight, the vulnerability and lack of protection of children in the Syrian Arab Republic today will have long-lasting consequences. 5. Detainees 73. The Commission has collected numerous accounts of torture and deaths in custody in government prisons across the Syrian Arab Republic occurring between March 2011 and January 2015, supporting its finding of the crime against humanity of torture and murder. The widespread and systematic use of torture was documented in multiple facilities in Damascus, including Military Security branches 215, 235 (also known as Palestine branch) and 227; the Damascus Political Security Branch; the Air Force Intelligence branches at Harasta and at Mezzeh military airport; the Harasta Military Hospital and Sednaya prison. The documented physical injuries of victims were consistent with their accounts of severe torture inflicted as a method of interrogation, or to degrade and humiliate. Torture also included rape and sexual violence. Conditions of detention were characterized by a lack of food, water, space, sleep, hygiene and medical care, and the denial of life-saving medicine. Detainees were often stripped on arrival and held for long periods in their underwear. The collected information indicates the existence of a State policy implemented across governorates. 74. There were multiple reports of deaths in custody at the Air Force Intelligence branch at Mezzeh military airport, Military Security branches 215 and 235 and Sednaya prison. Families of detainees were frequently directed to the Al-Qaboun Military Police to obtain information on detained relatives and then to Tishreen Military Hospital. In most cases, however, bodies were not returned. State authorities issued fabricated death certificates with the apparent intent to disguise the cause and location of death and to prevent any official record of the use of torture. By misrepresenting the circumstances of death in an effort to conceal detainee abuse, government authorities have bolstered a system of widespread and systematic torture and unlawful killing. 11