UNICEF welcomes Education Under Attack report
Speaking on May 10 at the launch of Education under Attack 2018, a new report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Shahida Afzar, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, said:“Today’s report is helping us shine a light on an issue that is too often overlooked. Children are under attack around the globe.
A child stands in front of his ground-flattened school after an bombardment in Ainjara village in rural Aleppo on 11 January 2016. More than 20 children died or were injured as a result of an attack in the area.
“Today’s report is helping us shine a light on an issue that is too often overlooked. Children are under attack around the globe.
“Because of attacks on places of education, children are putting their lives at risk just going to learn each day. Their parents are forced to make a grim choice: their children’s education or their children’s safety. Rather than places to learn and to grow — places of learning have become places to fear.
“The report also demonstrates a particularly troubling pattern of attacks on girls and their education. Girls were targeted simply for wanting to learn in over half of the countries profiled in this report. In countries like Afghanistan, Mali, Pakistan, and Somalia, girls have suffered acid attacks, brutal abductions, and even execution in their pursuit of education. We must not forget the girls in Chibok, kidnapped from their school dormitory beds. Over 100 of these girls are still missing.
"As a global community, we must ask ourselves: What has humanity become when children face kidnapping or death when they are trying to learn? When parents are forced to deny their children a chance to learn because the danger is too great? When parties to conflict deliberately target schools and hospitals? When schools are used as military bases?
“Our outrage is not enough. Our anger is not enough.
“The scale of the problem demands that we match our outrage with practical solutions, new investments and a renewed commitment to deliver education to every child.”
Source:United Nations Children's Fund
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