The findings of two reports released over the past week must act as a wakeup call to the international community to do much more to protect children in conflict.
Violence against children in armed conflict has reached “extreme” levels, with a shocking 21% increase in grave violations against children reported in 2023.
From “the unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children” in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to a staggering 480% increase in grave violations in Sudan, there is blatant and widespread disregard to the rights and protections enshrined under international humanitarian and human rights law. This includes the right to life, with over 11,500 children killed and maimed in 2023 – a 35% increase on the previous year.
Attacks on schools and hospitals are one of six grave violations against children in conflict, and increasingly take place with impunity.
Attacks on schools
In 2022 and 2023, 6,000 attacks on education took place, a near 20% percent increase on the previous two years.
Ukraine and Palestine experienced the highest number of attacks on education. As Russia’s full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine stretches into its third year, more than 3,500 education institutions have been damaged or destroyed. In Gaza, the very right to education is under attack, with all universities and over 80 percent of schools damaged or destroyed by April this year.
The NEU is supporting our sister unions in both Ukraine and the Occupied Palestinian Territories with material aid to mitigate the impact of the ongoing conflict on children and educators. Educators are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure children can continue learning.
NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede said:
“We stand in solidarity with educators around the world in the face of rising threats and unbearable violence. Schools should be safe places of learning and teaching. No child or educator should go to school facing the risk of being killed, maimed, injured or abducted. They should never be a target.
“The international community must act immediately to end attacks on schools, enforce international humanitarian law and ensure accountability.
“The NEU calls on the UK Government to abide by its special responsibility as a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council to uphold human rights for all.”