A/HRC/24/46 1. Government and pro-government forces 96. Sexual violence was committed against women during raids by pro-government forces in Dara’a, Hamah and Tartus. A woman was raped by a security officer during a raid in Dara’a in December 2012. A National Defence Force fighter attempted to rape a woman in her home in Tartus during a raid in May. 97. Detention centres and prisons were the locations most often cited for sexual violence. In late April, a woman released from the Political Intelligence branch in Damascus described how she had been forced to orally copulate with her interrogators. A woman detained at Al-Mezzeh in Damascus in December 2012 described the rape of cellmates. In late January, FSA fighters captured a detention centre in Dayr az Zawr and found a family among the prisoners. Under threat that her children would be killed, the mother was raped and forced to clean and cook for her captors. 98. The threat of rape was used as a tool to coerce confessions. Two women, held at AlMezzeh and Branch 235 in Damascus respectively, were told by their interrogators that their daughters would be raped if they did not confess. A nurse held at a police station in Damascus was threatened with gang rape if she failed to reveal whom she was treating. 99. Women were harassed, insulted and, in some instances, beaten at checkpoints in Damascus, Dara’a, Homs and Al-Qunaytirah. A university student was raped at a checkpoint in Dara’a in early 2013 because her brother was wanted by the Government. Afterwards, the FSA arranged for her to marry someone in order to “p rotect her honour”. 100. Rape and other inhumane acts, as crimes against humanity, were committed by government forces and the National Defence Forces. Rape and inhuman treatment are also prosecutable as war crimes. G. 1. Violation of children’s rights Government and pro-government forces 101. Most child deaths and injuries were caused by shelling and aerial bombardments. On 4 June, a missile strike on Kafr Hamrah (Aleppo) killed 63 people, including 10 young children. There were no military targets nearby. On 12 June, during the shelling of Tell AlShaykh (Dara’a), a 13-year-old girl was severely wounded when a shell struck her house. Her mother died and her two sisters were seriously injured in the attack. 102. Children were the victims of executions. When pro-government forces raided AlBayda (Tartus) on 2 May, boys aged around 13 to 15 years were killed alongside adult men. On 10 April, in Khirbet Al-Teen (Homs), a Bedouin family was killed. The adults were shot, while the four children had their throat cut (see also annex II). 103. Young men join – sometimes voluntarily, sometimes forcibly – the army and the National Defence Forces. Three 17-year-old boys were forcibly recruited at checkpoints in Aleppo; one was killed within two weeks. Young recruits were reportedly mistreated and pushed towards frontlines by older soldiers. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds have been observed in the National Defence Forces. 104. In June, 10 boys aged 14 to 17 years, who were with a group of around 50 civilians displaced from Homs, were taken from a bus, forced to strip naked and were beaten at a checkpoint run by Political Security in Deir Baalbah (Homs). They were later released. 105. Adult detainees regularly reported the detention and torture of children as young as 13 in detention facilities. 14