HH Sheikha Moza joins global leaders to demand immediate attention to children’s education in crisis zones

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser has joined global leaders from governments, international organizations and civil society to endorse an urgent Call to Action to ensure the world’s most vulnerable children and youth receive a good quality education by protecting schools from attacks, significantly increasing humanitarian aid for education, and planning and budgeting for emergencies before they occur.
 
The leaders urged immediate action for the 28 million children – nearly half of all children not in primary school – who live in countries scarred by war and conflict, as well as millions more struck by humanitarian emergencies such as flooding, food shortages, earthquakes and other disasters.
 
They also noted that the UN General Assembly resolution on ‘the right to education in emergency situations’ emphasizes the obligation to secure education for all children regardless of context.
“The mind of a child has only one opportunity to develop. If the education of a girl or boy is lost through conflict we have not only deprived them of their birthright, we have denied their generation the chance of development or recovery - and we have robbed an entire society of its chance for a better future. That should not be acceptable to any one of us,” said Her Highness, UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education and a Millennium Development Goals Advocate for education.
 
“This is the charge we receive from humanity.  We must protect children. We must protect education. By acting we will protect our common future,” she stressed.
 
Also speaking passionately at the event was the Liberian Minister of Education, the Hon. Etmonia Tarpeh, who had been a teacher and school principal before her nation was torn apart by civil war. She said, “When we were in conflict, there was a focus on food and shelter, but not on education.  But if you don’t provide an education you are putting children’s lives on hold. We need to help them think about the world after the crisis. Each country confronted with violence and the international community must ensure that education is not forgotten in a time of crisis.”
 
The event, chaired by Norwegian Minister for International Development Heikki Holmås, was convened in support of the United Nations Secretary General’s ‘Education First’ initiative which will be launched on Wednesday September 24 and which includes measures to ensure the right to an education for all children, including those living in crisis situations.
 
Others speaking at the event included United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown; Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova; Chair of the Global Partnership for Education Board of Directors, Carol Bellamy and Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Hon. Christian Friis Bach. Other participating organisations included the governments of Australia, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, Liberia, Niger, Norway, Qatar, Rwanda and the United Kingdom, as well as Comic Relief, Education International, the Global Campaign for Education, the Global Partnership for Education, the Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies, Plan International, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNOCHA, and the World Bank.