In Syria, soldiers and civilians are being inhumanely used as shields. Opposition to the incumbent Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, have begun putting detainees in cages and placing them in vulnerable areas to prevent bombings. The rebels are capturing soldiers and supporters of  the Syrian government and putting them in cages of 7-8 prisoners, which are then put in areas of that are under bombing threat.

“The [United Nations] need to stop this civil war, so that Syria can be brought back to a peaceful state. The only way this is to happen is through a very powerful and international force like the UN,”  freshman Sam White said.

Similarly in 2012, children were used for this same purpose. They were kidnapped, and tortured due to their parents or themselves being related to the Assad Regime. They were then used as human shields in raids on villages. The UN has been asked to intervene but due to tension between United Nations Security Council (UNSC) permanent members, the UNSC could not do anything.

Currently, the UN has still not decided whether or not to intervene. The rebels plan to make around 1,000 cages, which would then be transported to bombing sites to dissuade attacks. Many civil rights groups are outraged and accusing both sides of war crimes. This is not the first accusation, with child recruitment and chemical weapons appearing in this bloody civil war.

“Personally, they should care less about political tension and more about stopping crimes against humanity,” freshman Maximo Perez said.

The Syrian civil war quickly escalated from anti-government protestation to a savage war. Other nations have been taking sides, causing tension in the UNSC, disabling it from intervening; for example, the Russian Federation, successor to the Soviet Union as a UNSC permanent member, supports the Assad regime, while the United States has supported the opposition, otherwise known as the Free Syrian Army. Both sides of the war have used ferocious and, in some cases, illegal means to combating the other side, with civilians caught in the middle of the crossfire.