UNIS/SGSM/1430
4 September 2024
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in attacks on students, teachers, educational personnel and schools around the world — from Gaza, to Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere.
Every conflict exacts a cruel human toll. But for the children and young people caught up in the hell of conflict, the cost is incalculable.
This important day reminds us of the damage of war on young learners’ bodies, minds and spirits. From injuries and loss of life, to abduction, forced displacement, sexual violence, recruitment to the fighting, and lost opportunities, the risks are enormous.
Education is not only a basic human right in itself — it’s essential to the fulfilment of all human rights.
I call on all countries to invest in education and spare no effort to safeguard education and places of learning, protect students and teachers alike, and hold accountable perpetrators of attacks on places of learning.
I also urge all countries to fully endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration, support the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, and stand with all efforts to ensure that children and young people can continue their learning — both in times of crisis and after the fighting stops.
Let’s protect education from attack, and safeguard the fundamental right to education that belongs to every child and young person, everywhere.
* *** *
The new Permanent Representative of Somalia to the United Nations (Vienna), Khadra Ahmed Dualeh, presented her credentials today to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Ghada Waly.
The new Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations (Vienna), Alexander Maisuradze, presented his credentials today to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Ghada Waly.
"Today we mourn the one million children, women and men slaughtered in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda." — António Guterres
Forest crime is interconnected with other types of illegal activities such as illegal mining, trafficking in persons and drug trafficking, says a new study from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued today.