Education Under Attack 2018

In countries across the globe from Afghanistan to Colombia to India to Mali to Turkey to Yemen and on, students, teachers, and educational facilities are under siege. Targeted killings, rape, abduction, child recruitment, intimidation, threats, military occupation, and destruction of property are just some of the ways in which education is being attacked.

Between 2013 and 2017, there were more than 12,700 attacks, harming more than 21,000 students and educators in at least 70 countries. In 28 countries profiled in this report, at least 20 attacks on education occurred over the last 5 years.
International Instruments - Education in Emergencies
This document lists the international instruments that protect the right to education in emergencies.

 
Instrumentos Internacionales - Educación en Situaciones de Emergencia

Este documento enumera los instrumentos internacionales que protegen el derecho a la educación en situaciones de emergencia.

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State of Palestine: country report on out-of-school children
Education is the right of every child. It empowers children to thrive. It helps promote greater civic engagement and peaceful communities. It is the most effective investment against child poverty and one of the best economic investments a country can make. This is why every child should be in school. Every child must have access to quality education, so they can fulfill their potential. In the State of Palestine, very few children of primary school age are excluded from education, but nearly five per cent of 10-15-year-old children and one out of three 6-9 year-olds with disabilities are out of school. The aim of this study is to identify who these excluded children are, where they live, and to understand why they are not in school.
 
Based on a global initiative led by UNICEF and UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, it aims at providing a more in-depth analysis, using a unique conceptual and methodological framework to develop comprehensive profiles of out-of-school children and link them to the barriers and bottlenecks that led to school drop-out. It takes into consideration a variety of factors such as socio-economic factors, the quality of education, and the influence of the environment, the community and the school. This study aims not only at understanding what barriers and bottlenecks prevent access to school, but also at taking action about it. Based on research findings, it proposes practical ways of removing these barriers to get children back to school, and to keep the children who are at risk of dropping out in school. By promoting and implementing sound policies that address exclusion, we can make a substantial and sustainable reduction in the number of out of school children.
'I Will Never Go Back to School' - The impact of attacks on education for Nigerian women and girls

Attacks on education by the insurgent group Boko Haram have caused horrific and long-term suffering for female students and teachers in northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram has abducted over 600 girls and young women from school during the nine-year conflict, with some held in captivity for years, and many experiencing harmful repercussions long after they return home.

The 106-page report, “‘I Will Never Go Back to School’: Impact of Attacks on Education for Nigerian Women and Girls,” is based on interviews with 119 victims and eyewitnesses of attacks on schools and education, including survivors of the three largest school abductions in Nigeria: Chibok (April 2014), Damasak (November 2014), and Dapchi (February 2018). Women and girls speak out about their terrifying experiences, including forced conversion to Islam, forced “marriage,” rape, and other physical and psychological violence, in the report.
Contribution of the right to education to the prevention of atrocity crimes and mass or grave violations of human rights
In this present report, the Special Rapporteur considers ways in which the right to education contributes to the prevention of atrocity crimes and mass or grave human rights violations. Stressing that education has a key role to play at all stages of prevention, the Special Rapporteur underlines the particularly forceful preventive potential of the right to education in the very early stages, before warning signs are apparent. That role is to be linked with the aims of education and the right to inclusive and equitable quality education, as established in international instruments.
 
Peace, acceptance of the “other”, respect for cultural diversity, the participation of all in the development of society and an education that is adequate and adapted to the specific needs of people in their own context are objectives of education that have been widely recognized by States and in human rights mechanisms at the international and regional levels. However, education is not afforded the importance or the funding it deserves and needs in order to play those roles.
 
The Special Rapporteur, highlighting circumstances under which schools can become tools for division and lay the groundwork for future violent conflicts, focuses on a number of steps regarding the organization of school systems, pedagogy and the values and skills to be transmitted to learners that are crucial in terms of prevention. She proposes an education framework (known in English as the “ABCDE framework”) that encompasses the interrelated features of education needed in order for the preventive potential of the right to education to be fully deployed. Namely, education should promote acceptance of self and others; a sense of belonging to society; critical thinking; diversity; and the capacity of learners to feel empathy for others. The right to inclusive and equitable quality education must be taken seriously and be prioritized if States and other stakeholders are serious in their commitment to prevent violent conflicts, atrocity crimes and mass or grave human rights violations
Should Schools Reopen? The Human Rights Risk - An Advisory Note for the Independent SAGE

A human rights analysis of schools reopening in England on 1 June 2020 after their closure due to the Covid-19. An Advisory Note to Independent SAGE.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education: Financing Education and Update on Education in Emergencies
The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 8/4 and 17/3. It is devoted to the issue of domestic financing of basic education. It details human rights obligations for financing education and provides practical examples of national legal frameworks that ensure domestic financing. The report also contains an update on the situation of education in emergencies, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 64/290. The Special Rapporteur underlines that the attention and funding dedicated to education in emergencies continue to be insufficient and inadequate, and calls for more investment in preventive efforts and for a better protection of education during armed conflict. 
 
Key resource
Rapport du Rapporteur Spécial sur le droit à l'éducation : Financement de l'éducation et mise à jour sur l'éducation dans les situations d'urgence

Ce rapport est consacré à la question du financement national de l’éducation de base. Il passe en revue les obligations de financement de l’éducation des États en vertu des droits de l’homme et fournit des exemples concrets de cadres juridiques nationaux qui garantissent un financement national. Le rapport contient également une mise à jour sur l’éducation dans les situations d’urgence, conformément à la résolution 64/290 de l’Assemblée générale. Le Rapporteur spécial souligne que l’attention et les financements accordés à l’éducation dans les situations d’urgence continuent d’être insuffisants et inadaptés. Il demande un accroissement des investissements dans l’action préventive et l’amélioration de la protection de l’éducation lors des conflits armés. 

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Rapport du Rapporteur Spécial sur le droit à l'éducation : Contributions du droit à l'éducation à la prévention des atrocités criminelles et des violations massives ou graves des droits de l'homme

Dans le présent rapport, la Rapporteuse spéciale examine les différentes façons dont le droit à l’éducation contribue à prévenir les atrocités criminelles ainsi que les violations graves ou massives des droits de l’homme. La Rapporteuse spéciale soutient que l’éducation peut jouer un rôle essentiel à tous les stades de la prévention et souligne le pouvoir préventif particulièrement fort du droit à l’éducation tout au début du processus, avant même que les signaux de danger puissent être détectés. Ce rôle doit être associé aux objectifs de l’éducation et au droit à une éducation équitable, inclusive et de qualité, tel qu’ils sont consacrés par les instruments internationaux.

La Rapporteuse spéciale, après avoir décrit les circonstances dans lesquelles les écoles peuvent diviser au lieu de rassembler et préparer ainsi la voie aux conflits violents futurs, présente un nombre de mesures touchant l’organisation des systèmes scolaires, la pédagogie ainsi que les valeurs et les compétences à transmettre aux élèves, qui sont essentielles pour favoriser la prévention. Elle propose un cadre d’éducation (mieux connu en anglais sous le nom de « cadre ABCDE »), qui rassemble l’ensemble des caractéristiques nécessaires pour réaliser pleinement tout le potentiel préventif du droit à l’éducation. 

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