Akhtar Soomro/UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organization Protecting Education from Attack
Safeguarding a Protecting Education from Attack : An international expert seminar Building on the momentum of the March 2008 UN General Assembly thematic debate on Education in Emergencies and on deepening engagement with the issue of attacks on education, UNESCO convened an international expert seminar, Protecting Education from Attack, in Paris, from 28 September to 1 October 2009. This seminar was ground-breaking, in that it brought together a range of actors with backgrounds in protection, education and law, including representatives from international and national NGOs, UN agencies, governments, networks, academia and media. Together, they took critical stock of existing research, effective practices and lessons learned; identified opportunities for strengthening monitoring and reporting of attacks and increasing accountability; and generated next steps for action and research. Outcomes Seminar participants committed themselves to work together and within their own organizations to prevent and respond to attacks on education, and to advocate for enhanced international action.
promise to prot Key recommendations emerging Improve research, monitoring and reporting by: Deepening knowledge of the nature, scope and motives of attacks; the long-term impact of such attacks on individuals, communities, education systems, and the right to good quality education for all; and the relationship between attacks on education and development, conflict and fragility; Contributing to efforts to establish a system of global surveillance of the full range of attacks on education, which would comprise several key information components, including incidence, prevalence, coverage and evaluation, and use baselines and globally-established indicators in capturing and analyzing data; Committing to strengthen the collection and use of data on attacks on education via the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on Children and Armed Conflict and other relevant monitoring and reporting mechanisms; Engaging with the media to raise public awareness of the nature, scope, motives and impact of attacks. Improve prevention and response by: Rigorously evaluating interventions aimed at preventing and responding to attacks on education; Analyzing further the effectiveness and risks of increasing community involvement in the provision of education as a protective measure during conflict and insecurity; Exploring ways to address the motives of attackers and negotiate an end to attacks; Assisting states and other actors to provide credible protection for learners, educators, academics, education trade unionists and education aid workers; Using data collected to inform early warning, rapid response and programme design; Engaging with the media to strengthen its role in prevention and response at local, national and international levels.
ect from the seminar include: Improve accountability of state and non-state actors by: Assisting and encouraging states to ensure they have the legal, law enforcement and judicial frameworks, resources, and capacity as well as the political will to investigate attacks on education, identify perpetrators, and hold them accountable through just and viable judicial systems; Developing guidelines on the use of human rights law and international humanitarian law to protect education in situations of conflict and insecurity; Working with the full range of existing accountability mechanisms internationally and domestically to hold perpetrators to account for attacks on education; Exploring avenues for increasing the protection of education facilities in human rights and international humanitarian law; Encouraging and assisting the provision of relevant human rights and international humanitarian law training among armed forces and armed groups; Strengthening the protection of higher education in international humanitarian and human rights law; Engaging with the media to influence political will at local, national and international levels to increase accountability, both for attacking education and failing to protect it. CALL TO ACTION: A sustained campaign must be mounted to prevent and respond to attacks on education.
Education under attack Perpetrated by state and non-state actors alike, attacks on education involve the use of force in ways that disrupt and deter educational provision. Such attacks are directed against learners, educators and educational institutions of all levels. They include targeted killings, disappearance, abduction, forced exile, imprisonment, torture, maiming, rape by soldiers and security forces, recruitment of child soldiers, and occupation and destruction of educational buildings. Education is a fundamental right both an end in itself and an enabling right; access to good quality education enables people to secure and enjoy other rights. When provided in safe learning environments, education can also play a vital role in the physical, cognitive and psychosocial protection of individuals affected by conflict and insecurity particularly children and young people and in the long-term recovery of communities. Yet attacks on education violate fundamental rights and undermine the likelihood of delivering the life-saving and life-sustaining supports that learning can provide. Reducing the incidence of education-related attacks and ending impunity are critical to the safety and development of individuals and communities affected by conflict and insecurity. While some progress has been made, particularly in raising awareness of the nature and scale of targeted violence, attacks continue and impunity persists.
Related UNESCO publications Education under Attack 2007 Brendan O Malley 2007 Jenny Matthews/Panos photos Education under Attack Education under Attack 2010 Brendan O Malley (forthcoming) 2010 Education under Attack Protecting Education from Attack Protecting Education from Attack: A State-of-the-Art Review (forthcoming) A State-of-the-Art Review Generous support for this work has been provided by the Office of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-missned of Qatar, UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education For further information, please contact: Education in Post-Conflict and Post-Disaster Situations Division for the Coordination of UN Priorities in Education protectingeducation@unesco.org UNESCO 7, place de Fontenoy 75352, Paris France ED-2009/WS/47 CLD 2697.9