The theme of this year’s event “Protect education for sustainable peace” offers an opportunity to highlight that, despite progress in the last twelve months, there have been recurring attacks on education, with an alarming increase incident of kidnappings of schoolchildren and youth.
The event will focus on the critical issue of monitoring, reporting and data, and discuss how global leaders, local communities and groups, governmental bodies, academia, and media can engage fully and systematically in shaping advocacy, prevention and protection of education from attack. Discussions will also contribute to the global debate around the important need to build back education as part of countries’ COVID-19 recovery efforts, making education systems more responsive and resilient
On 28 May 2020, the UN General Assembly Resolution A/74/275 established the International Day to Protect Education from Attack on 9 September. The Resolution, spearheaded by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All (EAA) Foundation and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, draws attention to the plight of more than 75 million 3-to-18-year-olds living in 35 crisis-affected countries and to their urgent need of educational support. Over the past five years, there have been more than 11,000 reported attacks on education in over 36 countries, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). Many of these attacks included the use of aerial bombing and shelling. 22,000 students, teachers and academics were killed, injured, arrested or otherwise harmed in attacks between 2015-2019.
The International Day to Protect Education from Attack offers a unique annual opportunity to stimulate awareness and increased global advocacy to protect education from attack and ensure accountability for the continued, deliberate attacks on education and the prevalent armed violence experienced by learners and education staff worldwide. In this regard, the event will build on the global advocacy campaign carried out by the State of Qatar and EAA, in partnership with UNESCO and UNICEF, to forge multisectoral debate and creative thinking around ways the international community should collaborate, at the global, national and local levels, to bring an end to attacks on education.
Please RSVP to eventspmun@mofa.gov.qa.
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