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	Act to Protect: UN launches guide on attacks against schools, hospitals by Leila Zerrougui Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict   Every child has a right to education and health. But when conflict means the end of learning for millions of children; when health services break down or access is denied; when easily treatable diseases become deadly, we must act.   “We have seen it, we know what it is, and now we have to stop it, to tell the world who is responsible for these acts and to work together to use the tools we have to prevent and stop these horrible acts which can scar children for a lifetime,” says Special Representative Leila Zerrougui.   "We see that attacks on schools, hospitals and associated staff have become an all-too-familiar aspect of today"s conflicts," the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui said at the launch of a guidance note to assist the people monitoring, reporting and working to prevent attacks against schools and hospitals.   The Guidance Note on Attacks against Schools and Hospitals provides practical information for the UN and its partners on how to implement aspects of Security Council resolution 1998. Adopted in 2011, the resolution gives the UN a mandate to identify and list the armed forces and groups who attack schools or hospitals, or protected persons in relation to schools and hospitals.   The publication of this guidance is the first step in a program of training by all agencies and organizations, Ms. Zerrougui said referring to partners who helped to draft the guide the UN Children"s Fund (UNICEF), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).   The document spells out how these UN agencies and partners can assist parties to conflict to more fully respect children"s rights to education and health care. It also provides examples of good practices, which can be followed in strengthening Government response.   "This guidance is a call to increase our partnerships with both traditional and new partners involved in the protection of education and healthcare, including a whole range of civil society partners," Ms. Zerrougui said.   We cannot allow classrooms of children to suffer in silence, she stressed.   Irina Bokova, chief of UNESCO, and Yoka Brandt, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, played a key role in drafting the note and participated in the launch, as did WHO chief Margaret Chan, who delivered a video-message highlighting the links between children"s health and education.   "Attacks on schools disrupt the opportunity for children to realize their full health potential," Dr. Chan said, while attacks on hospitals greatly diminish the ability to provide health care, including emergency care at a time when it is needed the most.   Ms. Bokova called the guidance "a tool to advocate for the right to education during armed conflict and as an operational instrument to ensure schools remain protected spaces".   She said it was important to support teachers so they could cope with the challenges of teaching and learning in situations of crisis.   http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/publications/AttacksonSchoolsHospitals.pdf http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/ http://protectingeducation.org/news/ http://www.protectingeducation.org/draft-lucens-guidelines-protecting-schools-and-universities-military-use-during-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/eng/what-we-do/safeguarding-health-care/index.jsp http://www.safeguardinghealth.org/ Visit the related web page
	Every year, UNICEF responds to the needs of children in more than 250 humanitarian situations by Anthony Lake Executive Director, UNICEF   July 2015   Millions of children around the world are caught up in adults’ wars, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, with a strong call for accountability and robust measures to end all “horrors” children face. It is estimated that some 230 million children are growing up caught in the middle of conflicts.   UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said that today, millions of children are deliberately killed, injured, raped, abducted. Their schools and homes are being destroyed; they are being denied food, water and health care. Tens of thousands are forced to join armed forces and groups.   The rising death toll of civilians, specifically women and children, in ongoing military conflicts is generating strong messages of condemnation from international institutions and human rights organisations – with the United Nations remaining helpless as killings keep multiplying.   The worst offenders are warring parties in “the world’s five most conflicted countries”, namely Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR), and Yemen.   According to UNICEF, there have not been this many child refugees since the end of the Second World War.   The 1949 Geneva Convention, which governs the basic rules of war, has also continued to be violated in conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, Myanmar, Gaza, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), among a host of other military hotspots.   The current conflict in Yemen for example is a particular tragedy for children, says UNICEF Representative in Yemen, Julien Harneis. “Children are being killed by bombs or bullets and those that survive face the growing threat of disease and malnutrition.   Across the country, nearly 10 million children – 80 per cent of the country’s under-18 population – are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.   The different dimensions of the crisis facing children in Yemen include: 15.2 million people lack access to basic health care, with 900 health facilities closed since March 26; 1.8 million children are likely to suffer from some form of malnutrition by the end of the year. Additionally, 20.4 million people are in need of assistance to establish or maintain access to safe water and sanitation due to fuel shortages, 3,600 schools have closed down, affecting over 1.8 million children.   “But violence involving children in conflicts has taken a darker turn,” Mr. Lake warned, spotlighting reports from Iraq, Nigeria and Syria that have revealed how children are being used by adults as perpetrators of extreme violence – children who have been forced to observe and participate in executions, encouraged to believe that violence is normal, their young and impressionable minds exposed to senseless brutality, in total disregard of the sanctity of childhood.   “Every child in a conflict who is killed or has witnessed the brutality of war, is a victim – an innocent who has borne the cost of conflict not of her or his making”.   “We should be outraged that such suffering continues and that more is not being done to end these horrors and to hold those responsible to account.”   http://www.unicef.org/ http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/ http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ http://www.unicef.org/media/media_76354.html http://blogs.unicef.org/ http://www.unicef.org/rss/unicef_television_vodcast.xml http://www.unicef.org/media/media_78364.html http://www.unicef.org/sowc2014/numbers/   Humanitarian Action - help children in emergencies   Every year, UNICEF responds to the needs of children in more than 250 humanitarian situations around the world – delivering medicines, vaccines, safe drinking water and other life-saving assistance, as well as ensuring that children have a safe learning environment and are protected from harm, abuse and exploitation.   All children living in emergency situations need special assistance to reach their full potential and grow into healthy and productive adults.   Many of these children are growing up in places that make the news headlines around the world. Many others, however, live in circumstances of enormous suffering, yet their stories are seldom heard.   In February 2014, UNICEF launched the Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC), a global appeal highlighting the most pressing challenges facing children in emergencies around the world. It details the support they need and the results that can be achieved, even in the most difficult circumstances.   The HAC 2014 is the largest humanitarian appeal ever made by UNICEF – US$2.2 billion, in total – to provide critical assistance to 85 million people, including 59 million children.   Financial support will enable UNICEF and partners to treat 2.7 million severely malnourished children, immunize 19 million children against measles, and ensure access to safe water for 23 million children. About 7 million children will receive access to education and 2 million children will receive psychosocial support.   In the Syrian Arab Republic, where the crisis is approaching its third bitter anniversary, UNICEF requires $222 million to meet the needs of 10 million people (including 5 million children) inside the country, and $613 million for 23.7 million children in neighbouring countries.   Atrocities against children continue in the Central African Republic, where UNICEF is requesting $62 million to meet the humanitarian needs of 2.2 million people, including 740,000 children, in 2014.   In South Sudan, conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands, with children bearing the heaviest burden. UNICEF is scaling up its response to the humanitarian needs of children and women in South Sudan and refugee-hosting countries.   In Afghanistan, where upcoming elections and the withdrawal of international forces will likely have a significant impact on security and development, UNICEF is requesting $36.4 million to respond to the ongoing nutrition crisis, provide water and sanitation services, and to support displaced persons and children and women affected by conflict.   Children in Yemen face a consistently challenging humanitarian situation, exacerbated by political instability, multiple localized conflicts and chronic underdevelopment. There are 13 million people lacking access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and more than 1 million children are acutely malnourished. UNICEF is requesting $65 million to meet the needs of the country’s most vulnerable children in 2014.   In these and other countries around the world, supported by the generosity of donors, UNICEF will work with national governments, civil society, partner organizations and other specialized agencies of the United Nations to help communities prepare for crisis, to respond when it hits, to save as many lives as possible and to protect the rights and well-being of children.   * See more at: http://www.unicef.org/appeals/ http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/
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