Special Rapporteur calls for prioritising safety as fundamental element for ensuring right to education

GENEVA – States can only be deemed serious about their obligation to ensure the right to education if they prioritise safety as a crucial element of learning, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed said today.

In the course of 2024, Shaheed raised the alarm about the destruction of educational institutions, systematic attacks against schools, threats to students and teachers by gangs or armed groups, the insecurity surrounding children on their road to school, or police invading university campuses to silence students.

“In 2024, I engaged with Israel, together with other UN experts, bringing allegations of scholasticide in Gaza, where Israeli military operations left 625,000 children unable to attend school. I received no response,” she said.

“I also wrote to Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Norway and the United States, and arms manufacturers and banks, who fall short of their human rights obligations through the transfer of arms and ammunitions to Israel, sustaining those military operations” Shaheed said.

“In 2022 I expressed concerns about Russian attacks with explosive weapons that affected schools in Ukraine, the situation today remains dire”.

"I raised concerns with France about the situation in Guadeloupe with schools temporally closed due to water cuts and neglected maintenance of water network.”

“You have to imagine the courage of children and families and understand the value and hope they put into education,” the Special Rapporteur said. “For many, the journey to school or sitting in schools is fraught with danger.”

Shaheed highlighted worrying situations across the globe, as the world marks the international day of education on 24 January.

In Pakistan, girls’ schools are attacked by groups opposed to the education of women and girls.

In some rural areas of Colombia, armed groups forced teachers to flee in fear.

In Paraguay, following a June 2023 armed attack, students from the Indigenous Guaraní Paĩ Tavyterã community were cut off from access to schools due to blocked roads and insecurity.

In Haiti, 60 girls were trapped inside a school for three days due to rival gang violence. Many parents have stopped sending children to school. The risk of sexual harassment on the way to school compounds the environment of fear.

Since January 2024, over 10,000 children in Mambasa territory, Democratic Republic of Congo, have been deprived of education as 26 schools closed due to an increase in trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced recruitment by armed groups or security forces.

In Mindanao, Philippines, the Lumad indigenous children’s access to a socio-culturally appropriate education after years of efforts is endangered by systematic attacks on schools and ongoing threats against teachers, parents and students.

"Education cannot thrive when individuals are accused of using educational activities to promote propaganda against the State, as in Iran, or when academic freedom is restricted by national security laws," the expert said, citing Hong Kong's Ordinance in China.

“Equally troubling is when threats are within educational institutions, places where students should feel safe, leaving them unprotected from routinised bullying, violence or repression.”

She was concerned about 2024 events in universities across the world where students peacefully protesting divestment from companies linked to Israel were beaten, arrested and faced suspension without due process.

In her annual report to the Human Rights Council on safety in education, the expert will urge all actors to prioritise safety of learning environments as a fundamental element for ensuring the right to education.