MESSAGE OF VERNOR MUNOZ, SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN SUPPORT TO THE SAVE THE CHILDREN CAMPAIGN FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY ARMED CONFLICTS

12 SEPTEMBER 2006

As we celebrate today, 12 September, the official launch of the Save the Children campaign for the education of children affected by armed conflicts, I would like, in my capacity as Special Rapporteur on the right to education, to express my full support to and solidarity with this initiative.

It is estimated that over 100 million children in the world do not attend school. Half of them live in areas affected by, or recovering from, armed conflicts. Conflicts are one of the major obstacles to the achievement of the education-related millennium development goals, as well as the “Education for All” objectives. The campaign that is being launched today aims at raising 450 million USD and at ensuring that three million children who have absolutely no access to school are granted such access while five other million children are provided with quality education.

Save the Children has rightfully embarked in an extremely challenging but important and necessary task. Education is, unfortunately, often not considered as one of the priorities of humanitarian responses. It is however essential that every child, including those living in conflict zones, have access not only to education but also to quality education.

In areas affected by armed conflicts, people are often displaced and schools frequently closed, resources are diverted from social policy areas, such as education, and directed towards military expenditure, and children experiencing the stress of fight-related scene, as well as the sudden loss of relatives, friends and the exposure to awful violence scenes would hardly be able to remain in a class room. Most terribly, children may be abducted and forced to fight, thrown into the most terrible violence.

We all acknowledge that delivery of quality education to children who are not in school is extremely difficult in areas where there is severe poverty, where immediate survival is more critical than going to school and where there are few teachers and limited teaching materials.

It is unacceptable that so many children have either no access to school or disrupted access, or at best, substandard education. The right to education as a matter of access and quality is well established in the provisions of various international human rights instruments. This means that all children have a right to access school and be provided with quality education regardless of the circumstances they live under. Education not only helps build responsible citizenship but has an important role in peace building and reconstruction, but most importantly education as an empowering and awareness raising tool can contribute to address root causes of conflicts and prevent their occurrence.

I again express my full support to the Save the Children initiative and call on the international community to contribute to the campaign and support it.