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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, has called for unified, global advocacy to establish effective mechanisms to protect education from attacks.
This came as Sheikha Moza on Wednesday virtually joined global leaders on the inaugural UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack to reaffirm commitment towards safeguarding the right to quality education in conflict.
Opening the high-level virtual event, organised by Education Above All, Qatar, UNICEF, and UNESCO, Sheikha Moza stressed the need for a unified global advocacy to establish effective mechanisms to monitor violations of international law and ensure perpetrators are held to account.
“By failing to bring perpetrators to justice, the international community -- however unintentionally -- has become effectively complicit,” Sheikha Moza said.
“Verbal support is no longer enough when serious, practical solutions are missing. Decision-makers should not hide behind rhetoric without taking real steps toward change,” she added.
Sheikha Moza continued, “Despite this frustration, we still believe there are those within the international community who are willing to unite and take a stand, so that impunity doesn’t become the official response towards attacks on education.”
In fact, according to recent statistics from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), there have been more than 11,000 reported attacks on education over the past five years, killing or injuring 22,000 children, teachers and academics in 93 countries, resulting in instability.
Now, compounded with the COVID-19 pandemic, this instability places the fragile progress made across education under threat, she added.
Sheikha Moza said, “This is a frustrating reality we face, while we are opening schools and enrolling children in one country, schools that we had built in their countries are being targeted and destroyed. And because destruction is, naturally, easier than construction, it is quicker to destroy a school than to build one – slowing our progress, or even forcing us backwards.”
She emphasised that the International Day to Protect Education from Attack cannot be another ceremonial day on the UN calendar, but must become an annual benchmark to review progress, new data and take concerted action on all levels of governance and civil society.
“Protecting the lives, education, and future of those children is a responsibility that the international community cannot afford to ignore; a test that it cannot fail. For in these times, our humanity is tested. Let us unite to protect education,” she noted.
“I cannot imagine any state, country or organisation, or individual wants to be bear the lasting shame of being on the wrong side of history having been silent, complicit or lenient over the deliberate killing of children in classrooms, where they believed they were safe. For decision-makers to prevent facing such accusations, they must urgently establish effective mechanisms that enable us to hold the perpetrators of these crimes to account. So long as we persist in monitoring attacks, sooner or later, we will put an end to impunity,” she remarked.
This year marks the first International Day to Protect Education from Attack, following a unanimous resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in May.
The Day calls attention to the plight of children affected by armed conflict, in desperate need of educational support. The resolution was introduced by HH Sheikha Moza bin Nasser as part of a decades-long commitment to protecting education in conflict and insecurity and ensuring children in developing countries can realise their fundamental right to education.
Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani highlighted the timeliness of the call amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education globally.
He said, “This event is timely as it is convened during the exceptional and painful circumstances resulting from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) which affect more than 75 million children and youth who are in urgent need of educational support in 35 crisis-affected countries. The event also represents a message from this imminent group that education can be an effective and influential tool to bring about positive transformation in societies, make crises an opportunity to enhance cooperation and synergy in the interest of all and create a world of peace, prosperity and human dignity.”
He said, “This high-level event represents a notable occasion to call for putting an end to deliberate attacks on education and to armed violence, which affect students, teachers, schools and other educational institutions around the world without regard to the devastating effects of those attacks on the hopes and aspirations of children and youth nor their negative impact on sustainable developments, peace and human rights.”
The top Qatari official also expressed Qatar’s hope that the Day will serve as inspiration to the youth and students and further raise global awareness and advocate for putting an end to attacks on educational institutions.
The event featured discussions from prominent participants, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Defense Philippe Goffin; UNICEF Chief Henrietta Fore; UNESCO Assistant Director-General Stefania Giannini; among others.
Doha
HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, has called for unified, global advocacy to establish effective mechanisms to protect education from attacks.
This came as Sheikha Moza on Wednesday virtually joined global leaders on the inaugural UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack to reaffirm commitment towards safeguarding the right to quality education in conflict.
Opening the high-level virtual event, organised by Education Above All, Qatar, UNICEF, and UNESCO, Sheikha Moza stressed the need for a unified global advocacy to establish effective mechanisms to monitor violations of international law and ensure perpetrators are held to account.
“By failing to bring perpetrators to justice, the international community -- however unintentionally -- has become effectively complicit,” Sheikha Moza said.
“Verbal support is no longer enough when serious, practical solutions are missing. Decision-makers should not hide behind rhetoric without taking real steps toward change,” she added.
Sheikha Moza continued, “Despite this frustration, we still believe there are those within the international community who are willing to unite and take a stand, so that impunity doesn’t become the official response towards attacks on education.”
In fact, according to recent statistics from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), there have been more than 11,000 reported attacks on education over the past five years, killing or injuring 22,000 children, teachers and academics in 93 countries, resulting in instability.
Now, compounded with the COVID-19 pandemic, this instability places the fragile progress made across education under threat, she added.
Sheikha Moza said, “This is a frustrating reality we face, while we are opening schools and enrolling children in one country, schools that we had built in their countries are being targeted and destroyed. And because destruction is, naturally, easier than construction, it is quicker to destroy a school than to build one – slowing our progress, or even forcing us backwards.”
She emphasised that the International Day to Protect Education from Attack cannot be another ceremonial day on the UN calendar, but must become an annual benchmark to review progress, new data and take concerted action on all levels of governance and civil society.
“Protecting the lives, education, and future of those children is a responsibility that the international community cannot afford to ignore; a test that it cannot fail. For in these times, our humanity is tested. Let us unite to protect education,” she noted.
“I cannot imagine any state, country or organisation, or individual wants to be bear the lasting shame of being on the wrong side of history having been silent, complicit or lenient over the deliberate killing of children in classrooms, where they believed they were safe. For decision-makers to prevent facing such accusations, they must urgently establish effective mechanisms that enable us to hold the perpetrators of these crimes to account. So long as we persist in monitoring attacks, sooner or later, we will put an end to impunity,” she remarked.
This year marks the first International Day to Protect Education from Attack, following a unanimous resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in May.
The Day calls attention to the plight of children affected by armed conflict, in desperate need of educational support. The resolution was introduced by HH Sheikha Moza bin Nasser as part of a decades-long commitment to protecting education in conflict and insecurity and ensuring children in developing countries can realise their fundamental right to education.
Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani highlighted the timeliness of the call amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education globally.
He said, “This event is timely as it is convened during the exceptional and painful circumstances resulting from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) which affect more than 75 million children and youth who are in urgent need of educational support in 35 crisis-affected countries. The event also represents a message from this imminent group that education can be an effective and influential tool to bring about positive transformation in societies, make crises an opportunity to enhance cooperation and synergy in the interest of all and create a world of peace, prosperity and human dignity.”
He said, “This high-level event represents a notable occasion to call for putting an end to deliberate attacks on education and to armed violence, which affect students, teachers, schools and other educational institutions around the world without regard to the devastating effects of those attacks on the hopes and aspirations of children and youth nor their negative impact on sustainable developments, peace and human rights.”
The top Qatari official also expressed Qatar’s hope that the Day will serve as inspiration to the youth and students and further raise global awareness and advocate for putting an end to attacks on educational institutions.
The event featured discussions from prominent participants, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Defense Philippe Goffin; UNICEF Chief Henrietta Fore; UNESCO Assistant Director-General Stefania Giannini; among others.
