International Day to Protect Education from Attack Statement
by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- When a school is
bombed, hope dies. When children are abducted from their classrooms
and pushed into unimaginable forms of modern slavery and abuse, our
dream of peace and equality is destroyed. When teachers are too
afraid to teach, our society is in peril.
This year's International Day to Protect Education from Attack
comes at a time of unprecedented violence, hate, fear and terror in
countries across the globe. In Gaza, nearly 90% of school buildings have been
damaged or destroyed. In fact, the education system has been
decimated, according to UNRWA. This horrific catastrophe has left
over 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health.
Unfortunately, the number of attacks keeps growing at an
alarming rate worldwide. In March
2024, gunmen abducted 287 students in Northwest Nigeria, a continuation of the
abhorrent attacks that have undermined peace and development
efforts in a country of vast potential. These types of attacks
all-too-often end in death, maiming, child marriage, sexual
violence, forced recruitment into armed groups and other grave
violations.
This is an urgent global problem with global
consequences. On average, eight attacks on education or cases
of military use of schools were recorded daily around the world in
2022 and 2023, according to the newly released 'Education Under
Attack 2024' report. Last year alone, more than 10,000
students and educators were killed, injured, abducted, arrested or
otherwise harmed by these attacks.
The highest numbers of attacks on education were
recorded in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, the State of Palestine and Ukraine. Attacks
on education also increased in Sudan, Syria
and Nigeria. Justice and human
security are the foundation of International Humanitarian Law, and
the values enshrined in the Safe Schools Declaration, UN Charter
and Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Today, we must stand firm against attacks on education. Today,
we must hold the perpetrators of these attacks accountable for
these actions. Today, we must provide renewed hope for the girls
and boys who have endured these horrific ordeals to return them to
the safety and solace of the classroom. We have learnt from history
that the most effective way to destroy a people, their identity,
their culture and their human rights is to destroy their education.
Now, more than ever, "Never again" must mean never again!
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