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	During 2020 there were over 2,400 attacks on education facilities, students and teachers by Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack   The 9th of September, marks the second International Day to Protect Education from Attack, calling attention to the plight of millions of children living in countries experiencing armed conflict.   The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has documented more than 2,400 attacks on education facilities, students and teachers during 2020 – a 33 percent increase from 2019. This increase occurred despite the forced closure of many schools due to COVID-19.   In Yemen, more than 400,000 children have been forced out of school by the ongoing war, which has also seen over 2,500 schools damaged, used as shelter by internally displaced people or occupied by armed groups.   In northern Nigeria, meanwhile, more than 1,000 schoolchildren have been kidnapped by armed extremist groups and bandits since December 2020. The attacks have prompted regional authorities to order the forced closure of many education facilities.   Attacks on schools involving explosive weapons were also recorded in over 20 countries in 2020 and 2021.   In Afghanistan, over 185 teachers and students – mostly women and girls – were killed or injured in attacks on 40 schools during the first six months of 2021 as the Taliban consolidated its control over territory.   Similarly, since the military coup in Myanmar on 1 February, education facilities have also been routinely attacked or damaged and the armed forces have occupied schools and universities across the country. There were over 100 attacks on schools in Myanmar during May alone.   Despite international legal protections for students and schools during armed conflict, perpetrators of attacks on education are seldom held accountable.   In a rare moment of accountability, two members of the Islamist armed group, Ansaroul Islam, were sentenced to 20 years in prison on 10 August for attacking a primary school in Burkina Faso during 2018.   Armed groups in the Central Sahel – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – have targeted secular state education across the region. Such groups have been accused of killing, beating, abducting or threatening education professionals, intimidating students and parents, and damaging, destroying and looting schools.   Christine Caldera, Research Analyst at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said that, “at the end of 2020 more than 4,000 schools in the Central Sahel remained closed due to insecurity. This endangers the future of tens of thousands of children.”   All UN member states should endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration and work to ensure that schools, teachers and children are consistently protected in keeping with international law.   Feb. 2022   Widespread insecurity has led to over 5,500 schools being shut down in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, barring children from learning and leaving them without a much-needed support network, reports the Norwegian Refugee Council.   Relentless attacks and threats against schools in the Central Sahel are driving alarming levels of stress among children in conflict-affected areas, with 53% saying they do not feel safe at school, reveals the Norwegian Refugee Council in a new report.   The report finds that conflict is having a heavy psychological impact on children, affecting their behaviour and learning capacity. Almost two-thirds (64%) of children reported having little to no hope for their future.   "The desire to learn should never be trumped by the need to hide," says Marta Schena, Regional Education Specialist for the Norwegian Refugee Council. "These children have witnessed or endured multiple kinds of violence leading to chronic stress and trauma. It is our duty to help them rediscover the language of innocence, joy and curiosity."   High level of stress leads children to underperform at school. Almost two-thirds (62%) of children reported being unable to concentrate and 9 out of 10 say they have issues dealing with their emotions. To cope, some children isolate themselves, no longer interacting with their peers or participating in class. Others express their stress through anger, aggression or panic attacks.   "It is clear that our children are stressed and anxious: some of them wake up at night because of nightmares, others cry erratically," says Aanan, a parent representative from Tillabéri, Niger. Because armed groups often launch attacks on motorbikes, he says the mere sound of one triggers panic among some of the children. "When they hear the sound of motorbikes passing by, they immediately look for a place to hide."   Widespread insecurity has also led over 5,500 schools to shut down in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, barring children from learning and leaving them without a much-needed support network.   Despite soaring needs, funding and support for the education sector trails behind in the humanitarian response. Only 6.5% of the education needs were covered in 2021 in Burkina Faso, and 7.9% in Niger, making it the least funded sector of the humanitarian response in both countries.   Schools can play an essential role in healing the psychological wounds of millions of children and help them regain a sense of normality. But first, they must become safe places again.   "We call on the governments, school administrations and the humanitarian community to urgently increase resources and appropriate training for teachers. We must ensure they are fully equipped to support children who have experienced trauma," says Schena.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2022/february/central-sahel-new-report-finds-over-half-of-children-feel-unsafe-at-school/ http://protectingeducation.org/news/ http://eua2020.protectingeducation.org/ http://www.un.org/en/observances/protect-education-day http://en.unesco.org/news/first-international-day-protect-education-attack http://www.unicef.org/education-under-attack http://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2021/when-students-and-teachers-become-targets/ Visit the related web page
	Hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly disappeared by United Nations News, agencies   30 Aug. 2021   International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances   Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.   Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a 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. Of particular concern are:   The ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance;   The use by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations; and the still widespread impunity for enforced disappearance.   Special attention must also be paid to specific groups of especially vulnerable people, like children and people with disabilities.   Hundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.   Who Is Affected?   The Victims Themselves   The victims are frequently tortured and in constant fear for their lives. They are well aware that their families do not know what has become of them and that the chances are slim that anyone will come to their aid.   Having been removed from the protective precinct of the law and “disappeared” from society, they are in fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors.   Even if death is not the final outcome and the victim is eventually released from the nightmare, the physical and psychological scars of this form of dehumanization and the brutality and torture which often accompany it remain.   Friends and Families of the Victims   The families and friends of the victims, experience slow mental anguish, not knowing whether the victim is still alive and, if so, where he or she is being held, under what conditions, and in what state of health.   They alternate between hope and despair, wondering and waiting, sometimes for years, for news that may never come. In addition, they are well aware that they, too, are threatened, that they may suffer the same fate themselves and that searching for the truth may expose them to even greater danger.   The family’s distress is frequently compounded by the material consequences of the disappearance. The disappeared person is often the family’s main breadwinner.   He or she may be the only member of the family able to cultivate the crops or run the family business. The emotional upheaval is thus exacerbated by material deprivation, made more acute by the costs incurred should they decide to undertake a search.   Furthermore, they do not know when —if ever — their loved one is going to return, which makes it difficult for them to adapt to the new situation. In some cases, national legislation may make it impossible to draw a pension or receive other means of support in the absence of a death certificate. Economic and social marginalization is frequently the result.   The serious economic hardships which usually accompany a disappearance are most often borne by women, and it is women who are most often at the forefront of the struggle to resolve the disappearance of family members.   In this capacity they may suffer intimidation, persecution and reprisals. When women are themselves direct victims of disappearance, they become particularly vulnerable to sexual and other forms of violence.   Children can also be victims, both directly and indirectly. The disappearance of a child is a clear contravention of a number of provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right to a personal identity. The loss of a parent through disappearance is also a serious violation of a child’s human rights.   Communities   Communities are directly affected by the disappearance of breadwinners, and the degradation of the families' economic situation and their social marginalization.   Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.   Definition   According to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992 as a body of principles for all States, an enforced disappearance occurs when:   "persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law."   A Serious Violation of Human Rights   Having been removed from the protective precinct of the law and "disappeared" from society, victims of enforced disappearance are in fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors. Some of the human rights that enforced disappearances regularly violate are:   The right to recognition as a person before the law; The right to liberty and security of the person; The right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The right to life, when the disappeared person is killed.   The right to an identity; The right to a fair trial and to judicial guarantees; The right to an effective remedy, including reparation and compensation; The right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of a disappearance.   Enforced disappearances also generally violate various economic, social and cultural rights for both the victims as well as their families: The right to protection and assistance to the family; The right to an adequate standard of living; The right to health; The right to education.   Both the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which came into force on 1 July 2002, and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006, state that, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at any civilian population, a "forced disappearance" qualifies as a crime against humanity and, thus, is not subject to a statute of limitations. It gives victims' families the right to seek reparations, and to demand the truth about the disappearance of their loved ones.   UN Secretary-General's message for the International Day commemorating the Victims of Enforced Disappearances:   'Enforced disappearance – while strictly prohibited under international human rights law in all circumstances – continues to be used across the world as a method of repression, terror, and stifling dissent.   Paradoxically, it is sometimes used under the pretext of countering crime or terrorism. Lawyers, witnesses, political opposition, and human rights defenders are particularly at risk.   Enforced disappearance deprives families and communities of the right to know the truth about their loved ones, of accountability, justice and reparation. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the agony and anguish of enforced disappearance, by limiting capacities to search for missing persons and investigate alleged enforced disappearance.   The Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances is indispensable in helping to tackle this cowardly practice. But it requires the will and commitment of those with the power to do so.   States must fulfil their obligations to prevent enforced disappearance, to search for the victims, and to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators. Together, we can and we must end all enforced disappearances'.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disappearances/Pages/DisappearancesIndex.aspx http://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/CEDIndex.aspx http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/45/13/Add.3 http://www.omct.org/en/resources/statements/international-day-of-the-victims-of-enforced-disappearances http://www.omct.org/en/what-we-do/enforced-disappearances http://trialinternational.org/latest-post/putting-faces-on-the-loved-ones-of-disappeared-persons/ http://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-day-disappeared-missing-covid-19 http://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/protected-persons/missing-persons   * Mexico: 95,000 people were registered as disappeared at the end of November 2021: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/12/organized-crime-corrupt-officials-mexico-enforced-disappearances-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/04/mexico-prevention-must-be-central-national-policy-stop-enforced Visit the related web page
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