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	Millions of children denied education due to conflict by Global Education First Initiative   September 2013   Some 28.5 million children in countries affected by conflict are being denied access to learning, with tens of thousands of schools attacked or occupied by armed forces, heightening the risk they will never go to school or will drop out, the United Nations and its partners warned today, calling for urgent action.   “We’re here today because education should never be a casualty of crisis…or a cost of conflict,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake told the Education Cannot Wait event, held on the margins of the UN General Assembly’s annual general debate.   “Education cannot wait for battles to end…or disasters to be averted… or funding to be available. Education cannot wait…because children cannot wait.”   More than half of the world’s 57 million primary-school-age children who are out of school live in countries scarred by war and conflict and are denied the right to an education, compared to 42 per cent in 2008. According to non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children, conflicts, fighting and displacement in countries such as Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo have largely contributed to this increase.   The meeting was convened to support the Global Education First Initiative, launched one year ago, and chaired by Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education.   "We must make an intentional and deliberate turn from past policy responses to humanitarian crises where education has typically been underfunded,” Mr. Brown said.   “Today, with nearly one million Syrian refugee children, we have the opportunity to take immediate action and demonstrate that we can not only prioritize but deliver on the promise of education for all – education without borders - providing hope and opportunity even in the most dire circumstances."   The meeting called for more planning for emergency prevention and integration of emergency preparedness and recovery in education sector plans and national budgets; prioritizing education in emergencies by increasing humanitarian aid to education and improving the way it is delivered on the ground; and protection of children, teachers and education facilities from attacks.   Participants included UNICEF, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Save the Children, Global Partnership for Education, International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, and Plan International.   "Education must be built into peace building – not bolted on – and it must be tied with longer-term development,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said.   Global Partnership for Education Chief Executive Alice Albright noted that education in emergency situations is severely underfunded, accounting for merely 1.4 per cent of humanitarian aid.   “We should at least double this amount, make it more effective, and improve coordination among Governments, donors and humanitarian agencies,” she said, stressing that quality education requires investment and planning to give children living in some of the toughest parts of the world hope and a chance to shape their futures.   http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/news_stories.html http://www.unicef.org/media/media_70450.html Visit the related web page
	The Geneva Conventions - Civilians may under no circumstances be the object of attack by News agencies   Sep 23, 2013   78 killed in deadliest attack on Christians in Pakistan.   In the deadliest ever attack on Pakistan"s minority Christians, at least 78 people were killed and more than 130 injured when two suicide bombers discharged their explosives outside the 19th century All Saints Church in the country"s northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday.   The bombings came as worshippers finished Sunday morning service at the historic church in Peshawar"s old and congested Kohati Gate area. Most of the poor worshippers had gathered at the church"s lawn for free food when the bombers struck. Eyewitnesses said the blasts were preceded by gunfire at the entrance gate.   "As soon as the prayers finished and people greeted each other in the lawn, two explosions, the second one more powerful than the first, took place," said injured Asher Masih from hospital bed at Lady Reading Hospital. "Around 500 people were in the church when the bombs exploded," he said.   Most of the injured were rushed to Lady Reading hospital by volunteers. While Shaukat Yousafzai, provincial health minister, said 70 people were killed and about 130 injured in the attack.   Hospital sources said the dead included 34 women, 17 children and two Muslim policemen who were gunned down by attackers before they entered the church. Doctors feared that the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.   Sep 22, 2013   Al Shabaab Gunmen attack shopping mall in Nairobi.   An unknown number of hostages are being held by gunmen inside a shopping centre in Kenya"s capital Nairobi, more than 17 hours after Islamic extremists from the Somali group Al Shabaab launched a deadly attack on the complex.   At least 68 people were killed and more than 200 injured when heavily armed gunmen attacked the city"s Westgate mall on Saturday, throwing grenades and shooting shoppers.   The Kenyan government says hostages are being held "in several locations" throughout the complex, but added the upper levels have been secured.   President Uhuru Kenyatta says police are engaged in a "delicate operation", with the top priority being to safeguard the lives of those being held.   The dead include women and children. Distressed people were being helped out of the Westgate shopping centre all afternoon, some had been wounded, others were clearly in shock.   Kenyan police say they have confined the attackers to one section of the centre.   Survivors described how the gunmen stalked through the mall, throwing grenades and killing shoppers as they went.   Earlier, the Red Cross warned that the death toll may rise, with more casualties still inside the complex and the fighting ongoing.   "The casualties are many, and that"s only what we have on the outside," Kenya Red Cross Society secretary general Abbas Guled said. "Inside there are even more casualties and shooting."   22 Sep 2013   Iraq: bombings target Baghdad funeral, kill at least 65 people.   At least 65 people have been killed in multiple bombings that targeted a tent filled with mourners in Baghdad"s Sadr City, according to police and medical officials.   A car bomb went off near the tent where a funeral was being held, while a suicide bomber driving a car then blew himself up.   A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighters were gathering at the scene, police said.   No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, in which at least 120 others were wounded, medics said.   "Crowds of people were visiting the tent to offer their condolences when suddenly a powerful blast ... threw me to ground," said 35-year-old Basim Raheem. "When I tried to get up, a second blast happened."   In a separate incident, at least eight people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a busy street in the predominantly Shiite Ur district of northern Baghdad, police said.   A suicide bomber has struck a Sunni funeral in Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, Iraqi officials say, a day after blasts targeting Shiite mourners killed more than 70.   Major attacks have alternatively hit Sunnis, Shiites, and then Sunnis again over the past three days.   Over 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August, according to the United Nations, and over 4,400 since the beginning of the year.   * The Protection of the civilian population - International Committee of the Red Cross   According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977, civilians and all persons not taking part in combat may under no circumstances be the object of attack and must be spared and protected. In fact, however, this principle has been undermined, because the civilian population, particularly since the Second World War, has suffered most of the consequences of armed violence.   In contemporary conflicts, the losses sustained by civilians are generally higher than those seen among weapon bearers. To make matters worse, control over the population is often one of the major issues at stake in confrontations. The development of this situation can be attributed to the rise of religious and ethnic hatreds, the collapse of State structures, the battle for control of natural resources, the vast availability of weapons, the proliferation of acts of terrorism, and the spread of so-called asymmetric conflicts.   The lack of protection of the population in armed conflicts and other situations of violence today is not due to the inadequacy of the legal framework laid down by international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). The main cause, unfortunately, resides in the lack of respect shown by weapon bearers and their political operatives for these fundamental rules.   The ICRC’s protection efforts are intended to benefit two categories of persons in particular:   civilians who are not or who are no longer participating in hostilities and violent confrontations. Special attention is paid to groups exposed to specific risks, such as children (recruitment of minors), women (sexual violence), and elderly, handicapped, and displaced persons.   Those who have been arrested and detained, particularly in the framework of an armed conflict or another situation of violence.   For the ICRC, protection in a broad sense is aimed at ensuring that authorities and other constituted groups comply with their obligations under IHL and IHRL. The right to life, respect for family unity, and respect for dignity and physical and psychological integrity are central to these obligations. The ICRC also seeks to ensure that civilians are not subject to discrimination and that they have access to health care, safe drinking water, and agricultural land.   Likewise, reminding the parties concerned of the rules governing the conduct of hostilities (such as distinguishing between the civilian population and military objectives, the principles of precaution and proportionality, and ensuring access to basic necessities for the population’s survival), as well as the rules relating to the use of force in law enforcement operations, is an integral part of the ICRC’s protection work. The ICRC is also involved at the highest diplomatic level when it is a matter, e.g., of advocating for the prohibition of certain weapons whose use is deemed contrary to the basic rules of IHL, such as anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions.   Most of the time, ICRC delegates, having documented abuses which they learned about in the field, inform the authorities of the existence of protection problems and ask them to take action to end these abuses and/or provide assistance to the victims. The solutions provided by the ICRC are not limited to making confidential representations to the authorities.   They may take multiple forms, from promoting rules of engagement and operation consistent with international standards for the armed forces and police, to evacuating persons trapped in combat zones, as well as facilitating agreements between the parties to a conflict that will contribute to safeguarding the fundamental rights of the population.   International humanitarian law (IHL) is the body of international law applicable when armed violence reaches the level of armed conflict, whether international or non-international. The best known IHL treaties are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, but there are a range of other IHL treaties aimed at reducing human suffering in times of war, such as the 1997 Ottawa Convention on landmines. IHL - sometimes also called the Law of Armed Conflict or the Law of War - does not provide a definition of terrorism, but prohibits most acts committed in armed conflict that would commonly be considered "terrorist" if they were committed in peacetime.   It is a basic principle of IHL that persons fighting in armed conflict must, at all times, distinguish between civilians and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives. The "principle of distinction", as this rule is known, is the cornerstone of IHL. Derived from it are many specific IHL rules aimed at protecting civilians, such as the prohibition of deliberate or direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects, the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks or the use of "human shields". IHL also prohibits hostage taking.   In situations of armed conflict, there is no legal significance in describing deliberate acts of violence against civilians or civilian objects as "terrorist" because such acts would already constitute war crimes.   Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, war crimes suspects may be criminally prosecuted not only by the state in which the crime occurred, but by all states.   IHL specifically mentions and in fact prohibits "measures of terrorism " and "acts of terrorism". The Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 33/Article 4 ) states that "Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited", while Additional Protocol II prohibits "acts of terrorism" against persons not or no longer taking part in hostilities.   The main aim is to emphasise that neither individuals, nor the civilian population may be subject to collective punishments, which, among other things, obviously induce a state of terror.   Both Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions also prohibit acts aimed at spreading terror among the civilian population. "The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited" (AP I, Article 51/Article 13 (2) and AP II,(2)).   http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/contemporary-challenges-for-ihl/index.jsp http://webtv.un.org/news-features/other-features/watch/international-day-of-non-violence-2014/3816234278001 Visit the related web page
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