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	South Sudan declares Famine as conflict impacts people’s ability to meet basic needs by Unicef, Oxfam, FAO, Control Arms, agencies   May 2018   South Sudan famine threat: All parties to the conflict must reach and stick to a peace agreement   Thousands of people caught between the frontlines in South Sudan are unable to reach basic services including food, water and essential healthcare says the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF).   Since the end of April, the conflict-ravaged counties of Leer and Mayendit in the north of South Sudan have once again been wracked by violence. Men, women and children are enduring extreme levels of violence, including mass rapes and killings. Villages have been looted and burned down, health facilities have been attacked and food reserves and other possessions have been destroyed.   “They entered the village at six o’clock in the morning, when we were still sleeping. We woke up and ran. We didn’t have the time to take anything with us,” explains a mother of nine children. “I saw them shooting at people. My son was hit in the chest by a bullet. They started to burn the houses down, with people still inside. The worst thing about these attacks is the way they destroy everything.”   The ongoing clashes have already forced thousands of people to seek refuge wherever they can in the bush, swamps and islands with some people forced to move several times because of repeated attacks.   “The village we ran to looking for medical care was also attacked. It was attacked by the same people again,” continues the mother. “This time, we didn’t have the chance to escape, so we hid by lying on the ground. They couldn’t find us. When calm returned, we fled to the bush.”   People have now gone for more than four weeks with no access to shelter, clean water, food and little access to medical care. The living conditions of those who have fled have put the most vulnerable people, such as children and pregnant women, at greater risk of contracting diseases.   MSF teams have provided basic medical care to communities that could be reached, including a significant number of people who have experienced sexual violence.   “In one of the villages we managed to access, we treated 21 survivors of sexual violence in 48 hours. A few days later in a different area, we treated another 20 survivors. These numbers we’re seeing are very worrying”, says Brown. “However, we know many survivors don’t receive any treatment. People are still hiding in the bush and swamp areas because they’re afraid of the ongoing violence, and so they don’t have access to basic services, including healthcare. Until the violence calms down, we can’t reach these people to give them the treatment they need”.   Furthermore, attacks against healthcare facilities are cutting off local communities from much needed medical assistance. In two locations where we work, our medical supplies were looted and MSF properties were destroyed.   The current fighting in Leer and Mayendit counties is the latest episode in the ruthless violence that has raged in the area for years. The civilian population has been directly targeted by all warring parties, and forced to a life on the run characterised by limited access to shelter, food, water, and life-saving medical assistance.   Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF) calls on all armed actors to immediately put an end to the violence against the local population in Leer and Mayendit counties. http://bit.ly/2Jmq6Mu   February 2018   More than 7 million people in South Sudan – almost two-thirds of the population – could become severely food insecure in the coming months without sustained humanitarian assistance and access, three United Nations agencies warned today.   If this happens, this will be the highest ever number of food insecure people in South Sudan. The period of greatest risk will be the lean season, between May and July. Particularly at risk are 155,000 people, including 29,000 children, who could suffer from the most extreme levels of hunger.   In January, 5.3 million people, or nearly half of the population, were already struggling to find enough food each day and were in “crisis” or “emergency” levels of food insecurity (IPC Phases 3 and 4), according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released today.   This represents a 40 percent increase in the number of severely food insecure people compared to January 2017. The report comes one year after famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in February 2017.   Improved access and a massive humanitarian response succeeded in containing and averting famine later last year. Despite this, the food insecurity outlook has never been so dire as it is now.   The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn that progress made to prevent people from dying of hunger could be undone, and more people than ever could be pushed into severe hunger and famine-like conditions during May-July unless assistance and access are maintained.   “The situation is extremely fragile, and we are close to seeing another famine. The projections are stark. If we ignore them, we’ll be faced with a growing tragedy.   Conflict and worsening hunger have led to already soaring rates of malnutrition. Without assistance, as of May, more than 1.3 million children under five will be at risk of acute malnutrition.   Malnutrition rates are set to rise once the rainy season starts in April. Once this happens, many communities will become isolated and unable to reach medical services. The rains will make the country’s dirt roads unusable, and it will become more and more difficult to deliver supplies to medical centres.   “We are preparing for rates of severe malnutrition among children never before seen in this country,” said Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF’s Representative in South Sudan. “Without an urgent response and access to those most in need, many children will die. We cannot allow that to happen.” http://uni.cf/2xuyftB   Jan. 2018   UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore following her recent visit to conflict-ravaged South Sudan:   “I have just spent a few days in South Sudan where I saw how four years of a man-made conflict have left children sick, hungry and on the brink of death.   “The impact of the relentless violence has been devastating. I met a mother who had to walk for days to get treatment for her malnourished baby. I spoke with a young boy who was forced to join an armed group at the age of 10..   “Humanitarian agencies are working in dangerous conditions to provide children and young people with their basic needs. This is no easy task. South Sudan is the most dangerous place in the world for humanitarians – 28 aid workers were killed last year alone. Last year, working with partners, we vaccinated 1.8 million children against measles, treated more 180,000 children against severe acute malnutrition, and helped 300,000 children access education.   “But this is far from enough. The fighting shows no sign of abating and the humanitarian needs are massive: 2.4 million children have been forced to flee their homes. More than a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death. Over 19,000 children have been recruited into the conflict. At least 1 in 3 schools has been damaged, destroyed, occupied or closed. And we have documented numerous cases of sexual violence against children.   “The numbers go on and on. Together they equal an entire generation of young people denied the opportunities they so desperately need to contribute to building their society.   “As we enter the dry season, the needs – and threats – will only continue to grow. We are already seeing an increase in the number of children and families seeking help in displacement camps and we are concerned that our funding is not keeping pace.   “Only an end to hostilities can bring back hope and safety to the children and young people of South Sudan. Until then, we need unconditional, sustainable access from parties to the conflict and more resources from donors. Without these, the lives and futures of millions of children in South Sudan will continue to hang in the balance.” http://www.unicef.org/southsudan/ http://www.unocha.org/story/south-sudan-ending-violence-first-and-single-most-important-thing-needed-alleviating-human   Nov. 2017   Almost a year after famine was declared in Unity State, South Sudan remains trapped in a vicious cycle of starvation and disease, with the UN grimly predicting renewed famine in early 2018.   Today, [22 November] Save the Children has issued a ‘final warning’ call for urgent humanitarian assistance to prevent children from dying unnecessarily of hunger and preventable disease. Malnutrition has soared, especially among children. More than 1.1 million children under five are forecast to be malnourished in 2018, double the number predicted at the same time last year. Some 300,000 of them are on the verge of death by starvation.   The new UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan today called for free and unhindered access for aid agencies. The need to safely deliver life-saving food and medical supplies remains urgent. Millions of people across South Sudan will rely on aid to survive in 2018. Any reduction in official numbers does not reflect a reduced need. The figures for those reliant on aid to survive look lower because 2.1 million people have fled the country, 63% of them children.   Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International, said:   “We cannot stand by and watch South Sudan descend into famine again. This is the final alarm call. Famine is always man-made and we must be clear that this looming famine is not climate-related. Four years of violence have impeded aid agencies’access to deliver food to starving communities. All parties to the conflict must reach and stick to a peace agreement.   “It has been proven time and time again that it’s cheaper to prevent a famine than to respond to one. We cannot wait for images of famine to hit the news before we can afford to help the children of South Sudan.”   The "lean season" - when households run short of food before the next harvest - is forecast to start in January, three months earlier than usual. Food prices have soared, with prices for sacks of staples such as sorghum, maize and wheat flour up by 281% compared with the same time last year.   Of the two million people who have fled the country, one million gave gone into Uganda alone. There, World Food Programme (WFP) cuts are reported to be forcing hungry families to return to South Sudan as they are not receiving bare minimum meals in underfunded camps.   South Sudan is statistically the seventh worst place in the world to be a child. Half the children are not in school. A fifth of girls are married before they’re 14, meaning their bodies are not developed enough to cope with childbirth. The country has one of the worst records in the world for mothers dying in childbirth.   The UN has long documented instances of rape and sexual violence as a widespread weapon of war. Children arriving in Uganda have given deeply disturbing testimony to Save the Children staff.   Deng a 7 year old boy who has fled to Uganda, said: “I really really want to go to where my mother is. I miss my mother. I’m scared my mother is dead because we don’t know where she is. We got separated when we were running from the people fighting. They were killing everyone. I don’t know why people are fighting. I was so scared when I saw the people fighting and I saw dead bodies lying on the ground everywhere.”   Joy*, a 14 year old girl who also fled to Uganda, said: “We ran away because the war has turned up on us as civilians. When they come, they come to slaughter you with a knife or a machete. We could not wait for that to happen”.   Joan*, a midwife, in the same Ugandan refugee camp, who cares for Joy,* said: “When the armed groups come to the village they would rape young girls.Ten men can sleep with one woman, no problem if you die. They came and killed people and left them by the roadside, some slaughtered (with a knife to the throat). What I have seen in South Sudan now is like nothing I have seen before. They used not to kill women; now they are killing women, children and the elderly”.   *names changed to protect identity.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/12/end-the-suffering-of-south-sudanese-people-now   May 2017   More than one million children have fled escalating violence in South Sudan   The escalating conflict in South Sudan had driven more than one million children out of the country, the United Nations announced today, warning that the future of a generation is ‘on the brink.’   “The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” said Leila Pakkala, the Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a press release issued jointly with the UN refugee agency.   “Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the brink,” she warned.   Children make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million refugees from South Sudan, according to the latest UN figures. More than 75,000 refugee children in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have crossed South Sudan’s borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families.   “No refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan,” said Valentin Tapsoba, the Africa Bureau Director of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).   “That refugee children are becoming the defining face of this emergency is incredibly troubling,” he added.   South Sudan has the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world at about 75 per cent.   The trauma, physical upheaval, fear and stress experienced by so many children account for just part of toll the crisis is exacting. Children remain at risk of recruitment by armed forces and groups and, with traditional social structures damaged, they are also increasingly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation.   http://uni.cf/2pSsAYi http://bit.ly/2pxPt0D   Feb. 2017   South Sudan Monday became the first country to declare famine since 2012, as UNICEF warned that 1.4 million children are at risk of dying from starvation with famine also imminent in Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen.   Protracted conflict is the root cause of the food crises in all four countries, reflecting the reality that famine is more often than not man-made.   The South Sudanese government declared famine after its monitoring system found that some 100,000 people may die from starvation, while a further one million are on the brink of famine.   “We can still save many lives. The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.   “Our common humanity demands faster action. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa,” said Lake.   Others also described the disaster as man-made calling for an end to ongoing fighting to allow for food to be distributed.   "They’ve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch," -- FAO Representative in South Sudan Serge Tissot.   “WFP and the entire humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this catastrophe,” said World Food Program (WFP) Country Director Joyce Luma. “But we have also warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security.”   FAO Representative in South Sudan Serge Tissot described how South Sudan’s people who are predominantly farmers “have exhausted every means they have to survive.”   “They’ve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch,” said Tissot.   Emma Jane Drew, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Programme Manager in South Sudan also described the famine as “a man-made tragedy.”   “People have been pushed to the brink of surviving on what they can find to eat in swamps,” said Drew. “We need an end to the fighting so that we can get food to those that urgently need it and provide them with support to rebuild their shattered lives.”   According to a joint statement from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP): “A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger.”   The worst affected area is Unity State is in the northern-central part of the South Sudan, which was formed when it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.   Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that fighting in the area has made it impossible for them to open a hospital.   “The extreme level of violence has had a severe impact on people’s ability to meet basic needs such as safe drinking water, food supplies, shelter and health care,” said Nicolas Peissel, MSF project coordinator. “People have lost everything and struggle every day to survive.”   “The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has deteriorated dramatically due to the devastating combination of conflict, economic decline and climatic shocks,” said Mr. Eugene Owusu, the Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan. “In 2017, we are facing unprecedented needs, in an unprecedented number of locations, and these needs will increase during the upcoming lean season.”   Humanitarian organizations estimate that some 7.5 million people across South Sudan are now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. Since the conflict in South Sudan began in December 2013, about 3.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including nearly 1.9 million people who have been internally displaced and about 1.5 million who have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries.   Horrendous atrocities have been reported. Food insecurity and malnutrition have skyrocketed, and the risk of famine is significant for thousands of people in conflict-affected communities and food deficit areas if early actions are not taken.   “With needs rising rapidly, we have rigorously prioritized the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan to target those who most urgently require assistance and protection,” said Mr. Owusu. “It is imperative that this appeal is funded early, and funded fully, so that the aid workers deployed across South Sudan can respond robustly and rapidly.”   “In 2016, we managed to reach 5 million people, but the crisis deepened and spread as conflict continued. In 2017, we are determined to reach more people but we urgently need the funding to do so,” said Mr. Owusu. “I appeal to the international community, which has given generously to this young country, to support us now. If we fail to act swiftly, many lives will be lost.”   http://bit.ly/2lALq5x http://bit.ly/2kFQbKK http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/famine-hits-parts-south-sudan   Dec. 2016   International community has obligation to prevent ‘ethnic cleansing’ in South Sudan – UN rights experts. (UN News)   With “many of the warning signals of impending genocide” already present in South Sudan and amid a “mindboggling” scale of rape of women and girls, a team of United Nations human rights experts called on the international community to take immediate action to avert mass bloodshed, as they wrapped up a 10-day visit to the crisis-riven country.   “The stage is being set for a repeat of what happened in Rwanda and the international community is under an obligation to prevent it,” said the Chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, said in a news release issued by to Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).   “There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed blood to get their land back,” she reported, adding that many people the experts med during their visit said “it has already reached a point of no return.”   “The scale of rape of women and girls perpetrated by all armed groups in South Sudan is utterly unacceptable and is frankly mindboggling,” she continued, adding that aid workers told the experts that gang rape is so prevalent that it has become ‘normal.’   The Equatorias, an area of the country that was relatively unaffected by violence, has now become the epicentre of the conflict, according to Commissioner Godfrey Musila, who visited the area. The picture emerging is one of the presence of armed groups, displacement based on ethnicity, torching of houses, food insecurity and denial of freedom of movement. The Commission heard numerous accounts of corpses being found along main roads, looming starvation and people fleeing to neighbouring countries on a daily basis.   The Commission states that it is widely believed that fighting will intensify during the dry season, which runs until the end of February. To avert mass bloodshed the UN experts lists a number of steps that the international community should take immediately: expedite the immediate arrival of the 4,000-strong Regional Protection Force in South Sudan; ensure that the force is not restricted only to the capital; freeze assets; enact targeted sanctions; and implement an arms embargo.   “It is also urgent to set up the hybrid court promised for South Sudan,” said Commissioner, Ken Scott. “Large parts of the country literally have no functioning courts and even the traditional reconciliation methods are now breaking down with the result that it’s a free for all.”   “As the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide said, many of the warning signals of impending genocide are already there – an existing conflict, resort to polarized ethnic identities, dehumanization, a culture of denial, displacement based on ethnicity and in some places indications of systematic violations and planning – but the important thing is there is still time to prevent it,” said Ms Sooka.   http://bit.ly/2fMnObh http://bit.ly/2hPC7s9 http://tmsnrt.rs/2fQ5uOA http://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/21/joint-letter-un-security-council-members-south-sudan http://www.hrw.org/HaltArms http://internews.org/our-stories/project-updates/south-sudan-violence-fuels-humanitarian-crisis http://uni.cf/2gSneVL http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/no-solution-sight-refugee-numbers-south-sudan-cross-15-million-mark http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/02/south-sudan-declares-famine-other-countries-may-follow-warns-unicef/ http://news.vice.com/story/violence-pushes-south-sudan-into-famine-as-thousands-flee-to-neighboring-uganda Visit the related web page
	Alarming levels of attacks on schools must end by Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack   Attacks on Education worsening Globally, Education Under Attack report 2018 reveals   Deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on schools and universities, their students, and staff have become more widespread over the last five years, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) said in the 2018 edition of its flagship report, released today. The 300-page report, Education under Attack 2018, identifies more than 12,700 attacks from 2013 through 2017, harming more than 21,000 students and educators.   Over the last five years, 41 countries suffered at least five attacks on education, including at least one that was intentional or deadly. This marks a dramatic increase from the 2014 edition of the report, when GCPEA documented 30 countries experiencing this level of attacks on education between 2009-2013.   “Teaching and learning has become increasingly dangerous, with the lives of students, teachers, and academics frequently put at risk,” said Diya Nijhowne, Executive Director of GCPEA. “Schools and universities should be safe and protective spaces, but armed forces and armed groups continue to turn them into sites of intimidation and violence.”   The report includes profiles of 28 countries that experienced at least 20 attacks on education from 2013 through 2017. GCPEA found that nine countries either suffered more than 1,000 attacks on education, or suffered attacks that harmed more than 1,000 students, teachers, professors, or other education personnel. These include: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Israel/Palestine, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.   For instance, more than 1,500 schools and universities in Yemen were damaged or destroyed by airstrikes and fighting, or used for military purposes. GCPEA found reports of at least 650 incidents of attacks on education, or military use of schools, in Syria. In the Philippines, armed parties reportedly harassed or intimidated at least 1,000 students and teachers.   In 18 of the profiled countries, attacks on education deliberately targeted female students and educators. Some extremist groups bombed girls’ schools or set them on fire, or killed, injured, or threatened female students and teachers. For example, about one-quarter of reported attacks on schools in Afghanistan targeted girls’ schools.   Worldwide, armed parties also sexually abused or raped women and girls in or close to schools. In one example, armed militiamen in the DRC reportedly abducted eight girls from a primary school and raped them over the course of three months in 2017.   Schools and universities in 29 countries were used for military purposes between 2013 and 2017, including as bases, barracks, detention centers, or for other military purposes. These military uses increase the risk that affected schools and universities will be attacked by opposing forces, that children will be recruited into armed groups, or that students and educators will be targeted for sexual violence. For instance, a school in Ukraine used by various armed forces and armed groups for storing weapons was hit by artillery fire on six occasions in January and February 2015.   Armed forces and armed groups also recruited child soldiers at schools in 16 of the 28 profiled countries. In one incident in December 2013, some 413 children from schools in the town of Rubkona in South Sudan were forcibly recruited and sent into combat.   Attacks on higher education occurred in 52 countries globally, including all of the profiled countries. The attacks included violent repression of education-related protests that harmed students or education staff, or physical abuse or threats made because of the content of scholarship. Attacks on higher education buildings occurred in 20 profiled countries, including Kenya, where gunmen killed at least 142 students and injured another 79 on April 2, 2015, during an attack on Garissa University College.   “Several trends contributed to the abuses described in the report,” said Amy Kapit, GCPEA Research Director. “These include attacks by extremist armed groups, such as ‘IS/Daesh’; the use of aerial bombardment to fight armed groups; and violence against students during protests at school or university.”   Amidst this violence there is an emerging global consensus that schools and universities must be protected as safe spaces in the middle of war.   Over one third of UN member states, 74 countries, have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment championed by Norway and Argentina. By endorsing the Declaration, states commit to take concrete steps to protect education, including by implementing the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.   The number of states endorsing the Declaration has doubled in less than three years and GCPEA’s new report calls on all states to join and implement the Declaration as its key recommendation for protecting education in armed conflict.   In addition, Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education, a global commitment to achieving universal and equitable quality education by 2030, includes an indicator measuring Number of attacks on students, personnel and institutions, recognizing the imperative to safeguard education in armed conflict. The Education under Attack series has been selected as a source for measuring progress towards achieving this indicator.   “Education under Attack 2018 underscores the immense human suffering caused by attacks on education,” Nijhowne said. “By endorsing and implementing the Safe Schools Declaration, including tracking attacks on education to respond more effectively and enable accountability, countries can begin to secure safe education for all.”   * Read the report: http://eua2018.protectingeducation.org/   Apr 2019   Children are not targets. Schools and hospitals must be protected   Statement by NRC''s Secretary General Jan Egeland on yesterday’s deadly attack in Sana’a:   “The Norwegian Refugee Council is profoundly disturbed by attacks that killed and maimed school children in Sana’a yesterday. We are outraged by the escalating violence across many parts of the country and by the apparent refusal of parties to the conflict to engage meaningfully in peace talks.   The cruel nature of yesterday’s attack is too familiar to communities across Yemen. It hit a densely-populated urban, residential area in the middle of the day. It killed 14 children and seriously injured many others in their classrooms. It caused injuries that will invariably devastate scores of lives and shatter the confidence of families already contending with the broader consequences of this war.   We call on parties to the conflict to revisit and renew the commitments they made in the peace talks in Stockholm and uphold their responsibilities under the Laws of War.   We urge the international community to undertake independent investigations into such attacks on civilians and the United Nations Security Council to support conditions that enable these. Incidents of this kind undermine any positive steps taken towards reaching a political resolution for Yemen and must stop immediately.”   NRC demands an independent investigations into these repeated attacks on children in Yemen. The UN Security Council must support such investigations and call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in this senseless war.   http://bit.ly/2U4ZqRt   “Children were bleeding on the floor, calling for their parents". (Save the Children)   A Save the Children child protection worker who rushed to the scene of the school where several pupils were killed yesterday described scenes of devastation, and children bleeding heavily while aid workers tried to reach them.   The Save the Children team immediately intervened at Al Raee school, and helped transfer wounded girls from governmental hospitals to private ones that can provide better care than the public system worn out by four years of conflict. Five girls aged 12 to 16, were transferred yesterday after the incident. Sadly, one died in the evening.   The aid agency will continue transfers in the coming days, to ensure the wounded girls get the best medical care available, and will cover the cost.   The Save the Children child protection worker said: “I received the news yesterday midday. We hurried to the school. The scene when we arrived there was extremely painful. Children were bleeding on the floor, calling for their parents. Parents were searching for their children, worried if they are still alive or dead. Some of the children were bleeding very badly in their classrooms, and they died.   “People were running in the streets and most of them were injured and calling for help.   “Getting the children to fully operational hospitals was challenging. One of the girls was badly injured and died due to lack of equipment and supplies in the hospital she was admitted in. It was very hard for me to inform her parents that she had passed away, her mother was crying loudly.”   “I will never forget how the father of Salma* was holding my hand, crying, and asking us to do everything we can to save his little girl. I am glad we were able to save the lives of these four girls, and I am very sad that many children died in this incident.”   One of the girls Save the Children transported, 14 year-old Amina, said: “I will never go to school again”, as she lay in hospital, her head resting on one hand, a drip inserted in the other.   Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children Country Director, said: “Details of what happened are still unclear. But if the damage and deaths are as a result of the conflict, then fighting has once again torn apart the lives of children in a place of learning that should be off limits. The images of bloodied school bags and crying and distressed girls are unacceptable.   “Whatever the cause, children are paying the heaviest price in this war. Children are not targets. Schools and hospitals should be protected.   “All parties to the conflict need to abide by their obligations under international law to take steps to ensure civilians, including children are protected from conflict. Ultimately, what is needed is a total end to the conflict in Yemen. Only then will children be able to grow up in safety, without fearing for their lives every minute of the day.”   Save the Children’s team visited the school, which was left devastated by the blasts. Windows were shattered and there were blood stains on the stairs which littered with bags and books left by schoolchildren running for safety. Last month, five children were killed while in the safe environment of a hospital in Kitaf. http://bit.ly/2P1lpb9   The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, has expressed her outrage at the ‘terrible,deaths’ of civilians in the capital, Sana’a on Sunday, in which scores of women and children were also injured.   “These are terrible, senseless deaths and injuries and we offer our deep condolences to the families of the victims,” said Ms. Grande in a statement.   “Protecting people and protecting civilian infrastructure are core principles of international humanitarian law,” she stressed. “Even as we are struggling to address the worst food security crisis in the world and one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern history, these principles are being violated.”   “The people who are the most vulnerable and who need our help and compassion the most are the people paying the highest price for this terrible conflict” said Ms. Grande. “This is wrong, wrong, wrong.”   In 2018, humanitarian organizations reported an average of 45 incidents of armed violence each week. Thousands of civilians were killed last year, including close to 1,000 children.   The war in Yemen has plunged the country in what the UN considers to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with four out of five Yemenis (24.1 million people) in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and protection.   The funding requirements for the 2019 humanitarian response in Yemen stand at US$4.2 billion to assist more than 20 million Yemenis including 10 million people who rely entirely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs every month. Millions of Yemenis are on the brink of mass starvation.   So far, only 6 per cent of the required funds have been received!   ICRC: 30.5 million people live in Yemen.   20 million people don''t have enough to eat. 19.7 million people can''t get even basic healthcare. 17.8 million people don''t have safe water. 5.4 million people need emergency shelter.   http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/six-grave-violations/attacks-against-schools/ http://www.savethechildren.net/article/seven-killed-bombing-save-children-supported-hospital-yemen http://news.un.org/en/story/2019/04/1036241 http://bit.ly/2Z2vDNl http://bit.ly/1NfEjDv http://bit.ly/2G2n1gF   19. Mar 2018   Afghanistan attack targets Kabul classroom with 600 children inside   Eleven students were injured when an attacker detonated explosives in a classroom in Kabul on Sunday. “As inhumane as this cowardly attack is, we continue to see similar attacks on schools. Afghanistan’s children are becoming innocent victims of the escalating conflict,” said NRC’s country director in Afghanistan, Christopher Nyamandi.   The explosion occurred on the private-run Kawsar school in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday morning. Around 15,000 girls and boys currently study at the school. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is present in the same area supporting displaced Afghans.   “The attacker was wearing an explosive vest and was carrying hand grenades. Before exploding his explosive vest, he tried to hurl a hand grenade from the door step of a classroom but the grenade went off in his hand and killed him,” said Hussain Ali Sultanfar, a teacher at the school. “When the students heard the sound of the explosion, everyone ran away, and some of the students got injured escaping the scene. This was one of our special classes with 600 students in class,” Ali added.   Although no group has accepted responsibility for the attack, three months ago the Islamic State group claimed responsibility of an attack on a Shia cultural and religious school some five kilometers away from yesterday’s attack.   “Whoever these are, they can’t stop us from learning and promoting education in the county, however should attacks such as this continue, parents may withdraw their children from our famous education center,” Ali said.   International Humanitarian Law forbids attacks on educational institutions by armed groups or military forces. Educational facilities must be protected in armed conflict in the same way as healthcare facilities.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2018/march/afghanistan-attack-targets-kabul-classroom-with-600-children-inside/ http://www.protectingeducation.org/   March 2017   Alarming levels of attacks on schools must end, Save the Children says.   World leaders must take decisive action to immediately stop the targeting of schools and students in dozens of conflict-affected countries worldwide and hold perpetrators accountable, Save the Children is warning.   The call came ahead of the Second International Conference on Safe Schools taking place in Buenos Aires, which will bring together representatives from more than 60 countries and aims to secure firm commitments to protect students, teachers and schools from attacks. This global moment will also be an opportunity for states to endorse theSafe Schools Declaration that vows greater protections for students and teachers during war.   Regular attacks on schools, students, or teachers, or the military use of schools, have happened in 21 countries which all saw at least 10 incidents in the last four years, ongoing research has shown. A dozen countries saw more than 100 attacks or incidents of military use since 2013, research by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), a coalition of United Nations and non-governmental organisations, has shown.   While bombing and shelling of schools is common, students are also vulnerable when they make their way to class; soldiers have been known to snatch children off the streets and forcibly recruit or rape them. In the majority of countries affected by conflict over the past decade, armed factions have also used schools and turned them into barracks, arms depots and detention facilities, in effect converting educational facilities into military targets and exposing children to increased risk of bombing or recruitment.   The situation in the Middle East has become particularly bleak, with attacks on education in Syria, the occupied Palestinian territories and Yemen on the rise.   In Syria, more than 4,000 schools have been destroyed, damaged or taken over by armed groups since the war began six years ago. Last week, a school near Raqqa was reportedly bombed and at least 30 people were killed, while three students from a Save the Children partner-supported school were killed in a separate attack in Idlib. Yemen has also been devastated by conflict and it is estimated that more than 1,600 schools can no longer function.   Amal a 13-year-old girl from Yemen, barely survived when a bomb ripped through her school late last year, killing her friends and teacher, and injuring her brother. Now their father says his children cannot sleep at night because they cannot forget the image of blood and shrapnel-torn skin. “I screamed, I couldn’t get out. I was so frightened. No one was able to come in and help me,” Amal recently told Save the Children.   By joining the Declaration, countries pledge to restore access to education when schools are attacked, investigate and prosecute war crimes involving schools and minimize the use of schools for military purposes.   So far at least 60 states – including a majority of both EU and NATO members - have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration and officially committed to amending their military doctrine, training, and legislation to ensure better protection for children in war, while also guaranteeing better reporting of abuses.   “Every day, our staff are seeing children bear the brunt of war and violence across the world. Far too many children are being prevented from accessing education or are being killed, brutalized or maimed while they study or try and go to school,” said Patricia Erb, President and CEO of Save the Children in Canada.   “These senseless attacks on students and their schools must end immediately. While we have seen some steps in the right direction, much more must be done. This is why Save the Children is calling on all states to join and implement the Safe Schools Declaration”.   “We are on the ground in many countries, directly supporting access to safe learning, and training teachers and communities to increase their capacity to protect education, but global leaders need to take action and ensure children’s voices are not ignored.”   http://www.savethechildren.net/article/alarming-levels-attacks-schools-must-end-save-children-says-ahead-key-global-safe-schools   Feb. 2017   France and Canada: 58th and 59th Countries to Endorse Safe Schools Declaration. (Human Rights Watch, agencies)   The French and Canadian governments should be congratulated for becoming the latest countries to endorse the international political commitment known as the Safe Schools Declaration, said the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). The endorsement came during the international conference on the protection of children in armed conflicts being hosted by the French foreign ministry in Paris.   “France and Canada’s support for the Safe Schools Declaration is a welcome addition to the growing community of countries demanding that schools be safe places for children, even during war,” said Diya Nijhowne, GCPEA director. “The Safe Schools Declaration lays out many common-sense steps that countries can take to help ensure that students and schools are better protected.”   Fifty-nine countries have now endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, including the majority of both European Union and NATO member states.   The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political commitment that provides countries the opportunity to express support for protecting students, teachers, schools, and universities from attack during times of armed conflict. It stresses the importance of continuing education during armed conflict.   “Hundreds of thousands of children worldwide find their schools under attack or used by fighting forces to wage war,” said Zama Coursen-Neff, children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The Safe Schools Declaration provides a concrete way for countries to commit to protecting children’s education, even during armed conflict.”   By joining the declaration, countries pledge to restore access to education when schools are bombed, burned, and destroyed during armed conflict, and undertake to make it less likely that students, teachers, and schools will be attacked in the first place. They agree to deter such violence by promising to investigate and prosecute war crimes involving schools, and to minimize the use of schools for military purposes so they do not become targets for attack.   The declaration was developed through consultations with states in a process led by Norway and Argentina in Geneva in early 2015, and was opened for endorsement at the Oslo Conference on Safe Schools on May 29, 2015. Argentina has announced that it will host the Second International Conference on Safe Schools in Buenos Aires on March 28-29, 2017.   Today’s conference in Paris marks the tenth anniversary of the Paris Principles and Commitments, which are dedicated to protecting children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups.   “France and Canada have a strong tradition of advocating for the protection of children during armed conflict, and have reinforced their commitment through today’s endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration,” said Nijhowne. “We urge all countries that have yet to join the Safe Schools Declaration to consider doing so at next month’s international conference in Buenos Aires.”   6 November 2016   Hanaa Singer, UNICEF representative in Syria on the killings of children at a kindergarten in Harasta, Rural Damascus.   “A kindergarten was reportedly hit in an attack today in the town of Harasta, in Rural Damascus, a few kilometres from the capital, killing at least four children and injuring many more.   “This attack is the most recent in a wave of attacks on schools and education facilities in Syria. In the last two weeks of October, UNICEF was able to verify five attacks on schools killing more than 30 children.   “In a separate attack today near Harasta, a hospital was reportedly struck killing one person and injuring many more.   “UNICEF renews yet again its call for all parties to the conflict in Syria and those who have influence over them to make the protection of children paramount and to meet their obligations under international humanitarian law. Attacks on all civilian infrastructure including schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, education and health facilities must stop immediately.” http://uni.cf/2fqll2M   Oct. 28, 2016   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the reported attack today on a school in the western part of Syria''s Aleppo city that killed a number of children.   According to a statement issued by his spokesperson, the Secretary-General “condemns the reported attack” and “reiterates his call on the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.”   “Such attacks, if deliberate, may amount to war crimes,” said the spokesman in the statement. “Those responsible for these acts must be brought to justice,” he added in the statement.   The attack, which reportedly left several children dead, comes a day after the UN chief condemned attacks that killed students and teachers in a school complex in Haas village, Idlib governorate, Syria on 26 October.   UNICEF says school attack a potential war crime.   The U.N. Children''s agency called the airstrikes in Syria''s rebel-held northern Idlib province a day earlier an "outrage," suggesting it may be the deadliest attack on a school since the country''s war began nearly six years ago. The attack, according to UNICEF, killed 22 children and six of their teachers.   A series of airstrikes in the village of Hass around midday Wednesday hit a residential compound that houses a school complex as children gathered outside. The Syrian Civil Defense first responder team and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the airstrikes killed at least 35, most of them children. Initially, the estimated death toll was 22.   UNICEF and the Civil Defense said the death toll is likely to rise, as rescue efforts continue. The civil defense said there were two schools in the area hit with 11 airstrikes around midday.   UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake called the airstrikes an "outrage." He added if found to be deliberate, the attacks would be considered a war crime.   "This latest atrocity may be the deadliest attack on a school since the war began more than five years ago," Lake said in a statement. "When will the world''s revulsion at such barbarity be matched by insistence that this must stop?" Children are bearing the brunt of the violence that has engulfed Syria. http://bit.ly/2eVO2oc   Save the Children response to deadly Syria school attack   In response to yesterday’s deadly attack on a school in Idlib and ongoing bombing of schools and hospitals in Syria, Nick Finney, Save the Children’s North-West Syria Country Director, said:   “We are appalled by yesterday’s bombing of a school in Idlib, Syria, which reportedly killed 22 children. There is no excuse for bombing a school or other civilian infrastructure like hospitals, which should be known to the warring parties, and yet we see it happening time and again in Syria.   “Of the 60 schools Save the Children supports in Idlib and neighbouring Aleppo, 44 have been affected by bombing this year alone with several badly damaged. The majority of those incidents have happened in the last few months, as violence has intensified across north-west Syria. At least 20 students and teachers from our schools have been killed or injured this year, a terrible toll on innocent civilians.   “Syria’s children, like children anywhere else in the world, deserve the chance to learn and play without running the risk of being killed in their classrooms. We want to see an end to attacks on schools and accountability for anyone who bombs or occupies a school – these attacks constitute a potential war crime and should be subject to an international investigation.”   Oct. 2016   Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake on multiple attacks on schools in Syria.   “Yesterday, when a school compound in Syria was repeatedly attacked, killing dozens of children and teachers, we thought we had seen the depths of depravity.   “Today’s reports of attacks on schools in Douma and western Aleppo should deepen our disgust and outrage. “This brings the toll to five schools hit since October 11.   “Attacking schools.. killing children is simply inhuman.. If the perpetrators cannot find their own sense of humanity, they should heed the condemnation of the world."   * In March, Save the Children issued a 28 page report: Childhood under Siege: http://bit.ly/24QgOuI   Oct 2016   Conflict plunging to new ‘lows,’ UNICEF says, deploring killing of school children.   Deploring yesterday’s deadly attack on a primary school in the Syrian city of Darra, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reiterated its call on all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and protect children and schools.   “The conflict in Syria has plummeted to such lows that children are now risking their lives just to attend school,” UNICEF’s Representative for the country, Hanaa Singer, said in a statement.   According to UNICEF, five children were killed and 15 other pupils were injured when their school yard was hit at the end of an outdoor sports session. The attack came just a few weeks after the start of the school year and amid escalating violence across the country.   “Death and injury of children in Syria has become a daily reality. The killing must stop,” Ms. Singer said. “On top of their daily misery, even the right to learn and play is taken away from children in Syria,” she added.   The UN estimates that five years on, the Syrian conflict has driven more than 4.8 million refugees to neighbouring countries, hundreds of thousands in Europe, and displaced 6.6 million people inside the Syria against a pre-war population of over 20 million. Well over 300,000 people are believed to have died, over a million people have been injured and much of the country’s infrastructure has now been ruined. http://uni.cf/2d7lKcB   * The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) is a unique coalition of international organizations, including CARA, Human Rights Watch, the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, Save the Children, the Scholars at Risk Network, UNHCR, UNICEF, and UNESCO.   http://www.protectingeducation.org/ http://theirworld.org/news/gang-wars-hit-honduras-schools http://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/27/pakistan-attacks-schools-devastate-education Visit the related web page
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