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	Pakistan: Attacks on schools and teachers now occurring daily by Education International (EI)   Pakistan: Attacks on schools and teachers now occurring daily (30 March 2013)   A head teacher was murdered this morning in Pakistan - and three school children are fighting for their lives with another three badly injured - after the latest attack on a school and on the right of girls to education.   As pupils gathered early on Saturday to receive exam results, grenades were hurled into the Baldia Town school causing carnage. The Principal, Abdur Rasheed, died on the spot. The perpetrators are thought to be from TPP, a Taliban terrorist sect, as their campaign of violence against girls’ education moves from the tribal areas into one of the country’s largest cities, Karachi.   The latest attack follows the murder earlier this week, in the Khyber tribal district, of Shahnaz Nazli, a 41 year old teacher gunned down in front of one of her children, only 200 meters from the all-girls school, where she taught.   Earlier this week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has spoken out against the shooting of Shahnaz Nazli and has given his personal support to teachers persecuted for their advocacy of girls’ education.   Now authorities in Pakistan are under international pressure to deploy their security services to ensure the safety and protection of teachers and girls trying to go to school.   Education International calls upon its membership to sign a petition which is now available on http://www.educationenvoy.org calling for a cessation of violence against teachers who are defending the right of girls to go to school.   New York, 28 March 2013 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the attacks on teachers in Pakistan.   The Secretary-General condemns the violent attacks on teachers in Pakistan. Shahnaz Nazli, a 41-year old teacher, was killed this week in Shahkas, in the Khyber Agency of Pakistan"s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.   Five teachers were killed in January near the town of Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In addition to the tragic loss of life, violence against teachers undermines confidence in education systems, traumatizes students, and discourages parents from sending children to school.   Attacks on women teachers are particularly heinous because they disproportionately affect the girl students for whom they serve as role models.   The Secretary-General is greatly concerned about the increase of violence against teachers around the world in recent years.   He calls for schools to be respected as safe and secure learning spaces.   He urges local and national authorities to redouble their efforts to provide security in this area and to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice. The international community must work together to prevent violations of the right to education.   28 March 2013   African teacher leaders express their concerns over falling education standards as a result of shrinking education budgets.   Leaders of African teachers organizations will engage their members in a global campaign for quality education to be launched by Education International in September 2013. During a meeting of EI"s African Regional Committee on 25-27 March in Accra, they endorsed the campaign plans recently adopted by the EI Executive Board.   Serious concerns were expressed about falling education standards as a result of shrinking education budgets. In a growing number of jurisdictions, private school systems emerge which cater exclusively for the educational needs of the country"s elite. In Malawi, for example, the Head of State herself is now the owner of such a private school. Last month public school students rallied in front of that school protesting against the neglect of the country"s public schools.   Several leaders voiced strong criticism against the World Bank, which continues to support the employment of volunteers and unqualified teachers in the public school systems.   "Our members are outraged at the World Bank"s suggestion that volunteers would perform better than qualified teachers. The Bank is simply looking for cheap solutions, undermining the teaching profession and in so doing putting education standards at risk," according to one of participants. Visit the related web page
	Violations of the right of NGOs to funding - from harassment to criminalisation by International Federation for Human Rights Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders   March 2013   Publication of the Annual Report 2013 of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.   In its newly published Annual Report, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders focuses on a new setback impeding the work of human rights defenders.   Access to funding, in particular foreign funding, is increasingly being hindered by governments, whose primary intentions are to silence human rights defenders. Faced increasingly by human rights defenders around the world, this obstacle not only violates universally recognised human rights standards but seriously impacts efforts by civil society to promote and protect human rights and ensure that the voice of victims of human rights violations is heard.   The Annual Report 2013 of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), provides a global review of the violations of NGOs’ right to funding via various forms of restrictions imposed by States. It provides a detailed picture of this as yet insufficiently studied problem. This analysis is illustrated by concrete cases in 35 countries.   “We want to protect NGOs. This is now an urgent problem because there is a pattern emerging, a global backlash, attacking and identifying human rights defenders as illegitimate because of their international connections. This new argument against international support, specifically funding, restricts the actions of NGOs. This is unacceptable. With this year’s Report, we want to reframe the debate concerning universally recognised human rights work”, said Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of OMCT.   “Barriers to funding are often erected in the context of a pervasive climate of repression in which restrictive laws combined with smearing campaigns and judicial harassment against human rights defenders create a hostile environment towards their activities. These barriers to NGO funding imposed by States represent one of the most serious institutional problems facing defenders today”, added Souhayr Belhassen, President of FIDH.   As also highlighted by Maina Kiai, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, in the Foreword to the Report, “The topic of this year’s Report is most pertinent as lately we have witnessed increased stigmatization and undue restrictions in relation to access to funding and resources for civil society organizations, in an attempt to stifle any forms of criticism”.   The right of NGOs to access funding is an integral part of the right to freedom of association. Access to funds and resources is essential and without it the daily work of NGOs is highly jeopardised.   In some countries, the consequences of such laws and practices are debilitating. In Ethiopia, regulations on foreign funding forced NGOs to reduce their activities and dismiss part of their staff or stop human rights related activities. In the Russian Federation, NGOs receiving foreign funds face criminal liability if they fail to add the mention “foreign agent” on all official documents.   In Belarus, “Viasna” Human Rights Centre President, Ales Bialiatski, is serving a prison term for using foreign funding and his colleagues were evicted from their offices. Some States also use the technique of “restriction by omission” to prevent human rights NGOs’ access to funding.   By not applying the procedure laid down by their own laws and regulations, the authorities deny NGOs the ability to carry out projects funded by organisations or foreign countries, as in Bangladesh.   Based on the legal framework surrounding the right to access to funding and the embryonic jurisprudence on this subject, the Report seeks to foster an in-depth analysis of the negative impacts of these restrictive measures, and addresses recommendations to all stakeholders - beneficiaries, donors, governments and intergovernmental organisations.   The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is the leading global programme on the protection of human rights defenders. In 2012, the Observatory covered more than 50 country situations, notably through 336 urgent and follow-up interventions concerning over 500 human rights defenders. Visit the related web page
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