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	Education pivotal for lasting peace by Save the Children Alliance   Sarajevo, March 2009   Top peace negotiators and education experts joined representatives of governments and the United Nations at a unique summit to examine how quality education can be prioritised in peace processes, and become a reality for all children living in conflict-affected countries.   Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Rigoberta Menchu addressed the conference via video link to lend their support and energy to the attendees.   Tutu declared, “Nothing can be more unjust than denying children their right to education. If we want genuine peace, there is no question at all that you must have justice. And how can we expect children to learn to be just, to be fair, to be tolerant with one another, if not in school?”   The conference comes as Marrti Athisaari, the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, became the 32nd Nobel Peace Prize winner to sign up to a joint statement calling for urgent action to implement quality education and build peace in conflict-affected countries.   Organised by Save the Children and the Norwegian government, and hosted by the President of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Where Peace Begins: The Pivotal Role of Education for Lasting Peace comes at a time when there are 30 ongoing armed conflicts in the world. Nearly 40 million children are out of school in conflict affected areas, over half of the 75 million children worldwide - a hurdle that needs to be overcome in order to reach the education Millennium Development Goal.   This major international meeting takes place against the backdrop of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s fragmented, segregated and highly politicised education system, criticised as reinforcing the differences between the ethnicities involved in the 1992-1995 conflict, and a threat to future security in the region.   “When a war comes to an end, the peace agreement is the blueprint for that country’s future. Education has got to be part of that blueprint if we’re serious about building lasting peace and avoiding children’s lives sliding back into war again,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary General of Save the Children, speaking from Sarajevo.   “But if you look at the 37 full peace agreements signed since the end of the Cold War, most do not properly address education – and nearly one-third don’t even mention of education at all. The average time a child spends in a refugee camp is 17 years – that’s more than an entire childhood – so it’s clearly vital more needs to be done to address education in post-conflict countries.” Visit the related web page
	Ensuring water supply for civilians in war zones by ICRC   Mar 2009   In many conflicts, disease kills more civilians than bullets. Reason enough for the ICRC to call on governments to ensure safe water and decent sanitation for civilians in conflict zones. An interview with Robert Mardini, head of the ICRC’s water and habitat unit, on the occasion of the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.   People need water to drink and to cook. They need water to keep themselves clean. They need water to produce food and to raise livestock. Hospitals consume huge amounts of water. There can be no life without water and it is intolerable for people not to have access to water during a conflict. That is why the ICRC is calling on governments to do more to ensure that people in conflict zones have access to safe water and decent sanitation.   Why are water and sanitation such an issue in conflict zones?   Water, sewage and electricity systems are often among the first elements of a country’s infrastructure to be put out of service. This may be due to war damage, but systems may fail simply because technicians cannot get to installations in order to operate and maintain them.   Conflict almost always forces civilians to flee, when they can. This can result in thousands of internally displaced persons arriving in an area where the water and sanitation installations were designed for a few hundred. And then those installations are shelled. And no-one can repair the damage because of the fighting. So people have no clean water and no sanitation. They drink dirty water, so they pick up water-borne diseases. They can’t wash, so they get hygiene-related diseases. Epidemics break out. People die. In many conflicts, more civilians are killed by disease than by bullets.   The ICRC makes restoring access to water and sanitation one of its top priorities in a conflict situation.   The ICRC often talks about “access to water and sanitation.” What does this actually mean?   There are two sides to access. The first is that civilians need safe water and decent environmental health conditions. In an urban context, this hinges largely on the continued functioning of water distribution networks, drains, sewage works and other infrastructure. In the countryside, “access” may mean being able to get to the nearest water point without being attacked on the way.   The second aspect is that professionals need access to installations. They must be able to enter pumping stations, sewage works and so forth to repair war damage, make normal “technical” repairs, carry out routine maintenance and operate equipment. It may be that all is needed is for one button to be pressed to restart a water pump. But if the technician cannot drive to the pumping station without getting shot at, he can’t press that button. So the pump doesn’t start. So people don’t get mains water. So they drink dirty water. If they drink dirty water they may get cholera. If they get cholera they may die. All because one technician couldn’t press one button.   But often, restoring water and sanitation involves more than hitting a button. Repairing war damage can be a lengthy undertaking. A few hours’ truce is welcome, but it’s often too little. Parties must suspend hostilities for long enough to allow humanitarian action, and that includes basic water and sanitation work.   When fighting makes it too dangerous for technicians to go to water supply installations, the ICRC will speak to the parties to the conflict to arrange safe passage, and then accompany the technicians to and from the installation. We did this on a number of occasions in the recent Gaza conflict, for instance.   Mar 2009   Neutral and independent humanitarian action.   Neutral, independent and impartial humanitarian action in the event of armed conflict and internal violence is at the heart of the ICRC"s mandate and a fundamental part of its identity. This approach is intended to give the ICRC the widest possible access both to the victims of the violence and to the parties concerned.   To do this, the organization seeks dialogue with all actors involved in a given armed conflict or other situation of violence as well as with the people suffering the consequences in order to gain their acceptance and respect. Its neutral and independent approach also enables the ICRC to ensure the safety of its staff. In this way the organization is able to reach people on either side of the front lines in active conflict areas around the world.   The ICRC"s role as neutral intermediary follows on logically from this operational approach. In many cases this entails negotiating with the relevant parties to gain humanitarian access to battlefields or hospitals, for example, in order to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian services to the victims of conflicts.   The ICRC"s role of neutral intermediary is based on legal provisions in the Geneva Conventions as well as the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. This role can take the form of providing good offices or, less commonly, mediation. Either way, the consent of all the parties involved must be obtained before the ICRC can act.   The overriding aim is that any action should relieve the suffering of people whose lives have been disrupted by conflict and help to promote adherence to international humanitarian law (the body of rules that protects those not or no longer fighting). Visit the related web page
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