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	International Day to Protect Education from Attack by GCPEA, United Nations News   Sep. 2020   Around the world, attacks on children continue unabated, as warring parties flout one of the most basic rules of war: the protection of children. The protracted nature of conflicts today is affecting the futures of entire generations of children.   Without access to education, a generation of children living in conflict will grow up without the skills they need to contribute to their countries and economies, exacerbating the already desperate situation for millions of children and their families.   A child’s right to education cannot be safeguarded in conflict zones without education itself being protected.   Education can be a life-saver. Out of school, children are easy targets of abuse, exploitation and recruitment by armed forces and groups.   School should provide a safe space where children can be protected from threats and crises. It is also a critical step to breaking the cycle of crisis and reduces the likelihood of future conflicts.   The Day draws attention to the plight of more than 75 million 3-to-18-year-olds living in 35 crisis-affected countries and to their urgent need of educational support. It expresses concern over the effects of continued violence on these children and their ability to access education, whose consequences require special attention beyond the needs of learners whose establishments were temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   In proclaiming the International Day to Protect Education from Attack to be celebrated for the first time in 2020, the UN is sending a clear message regarding the importance of safeguarding schools as places of protection and safety for students and educators and the need to keep education at the top of the public agenda.   This remains a priority while governments continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to school closures for more than 90% of the world’s student population.   Background:   The day was established by a unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly, calling on UNESCO and UNICEF to raise awareness of the plight of millions of children living in countries affected by conflict. The resolution proclaiming the Day was sponsored by 63 countries.   The General Assembly resolution affirms that governments have the primary responsibility to provide protection and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels to all learners, especially those in vulnerable situations.   It further emphasizes the need to intensify efforts and increase funding to promote safe and protective school environments in humanitarian emergencies by taking all feasible measures to protect schools, learners and educational personnel from attack, refrain from actions that impede children’s access to education, and facilitate access to education in situations of armed conflict.   http://www.un.org/en/observances/protect-education-day http://protectingeducation.org/news/protecting-education-from-attack-during-covid-19-a-new-day-a-new-call-to-action/ http://ssd.protectingeducation.org/ http://protectingeducation.org/publication/education-under-attack-2020/ Visit the related web page
	The crime of enforced disappearance is rife across the world by United Nations News   Aug. 2020   More than a human rights violation against an individual, enforced disappearances have frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the whole of society, the United Nations said on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance.   “The crime of enforced disappearance is rife across the world”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message commemorating the day. “We see new cases almost daily, including the disappearance of defenders of the environment, who are often indigenous peoples”.   “Meanwhile”, he continued, “the excruciating pain of old cases is still acute, as the fate of thousands of disappeared people remains unknown, making the crime a continuous presence in the lives of the loved ones of the lost”.   Enforced disappearance has become a global problem – not restricted to any specific region of the world.   Once largely the product of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents, according to the UN.   Particular concerns involve the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance.   The UN Committee and Working Group on Enforced Disappearances have identified additional worrying trends, Mr. Guterres said, “including reprisals against relatives of the victims and members of civil society, often in the name of security and counter-terrorism”.   “Enforced disappearance also has gendered consequences particularly affecting women and LGBTI persons,” he added.   Also concerning is the use of enforced disappearance by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations along with the widespread exemption from punishment for the crime.   “Impunity compounds the suffering and anguish,” underscored the UN chief maintaining that it is “critical to pursue credible and impartial judicial investigations.”   Under international human rights law, families and societies have a right to know the truth about what happened. “I call on Member States to fulfil this responsibility”.   Hundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.   “With the support of international human rights mechanisms, States have a duty to strengthen their efforts to prevent enforced disappearances, to search for victims, and to increase assistance to victims and their relatives”.   And special attention must be given to vulnerable populations, like children and people with disabilities.   The Secretary-General called on all States to “ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances and to accept the competence of the Committee to examine individual complaints”. He called it “a first, but crucial step, towards the elimination of this atrocious crime”.   * UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued the following statement: http://bit.ly/2RuiwBI http://undocs.org/A/HRC/45/13/Add.3 http://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/CEDIndex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disappearances/Pages/DisappearancesIndex.aspx http://www.omct.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/ConventionCED.aspx http://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/protected-persons/missing-persons Visit the related web page
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