Photo: A World at School
A new petition has just been launched by the NGO A World at School (AWAS) which fits with our Live, Love, Learn theme: #SafeSchools.
During times of conflict and war, education is often disrupted: normal routines and structures get broken, resources are diverted away to fund the conflict, and simply getting to school can be extremely dangerous. AWAS estimate that there are 80 million children whose education has been disrupted in this way, by conflict or by other emergencies such as natural disasters. This means that not only the individual children are having their human right to education denied, but also makes it more difficult for societies to be rebuilt after conflict or emergency as the next generation has missed out on aquiring important skills and understanding that would help the rebuilding effort.
Because of this, AWAS has been campiagning for world leaders to create a fund to help stop children missing out on education during emergencies. In 2015 they got a commitment from politicians to create this ‘platform’: now they need world leaders to put their money where their mouth is and fund it. UN general secretary Ban Ki-Moon has called a World Humanitarian Summit, to be held on 23rd-24th May in Istanbul, Turkey. AWAS will present their petition to world leaders at that event – you can add your support to this great initiative by signing online.
The text of the petition says:
To world leaders:
Launch a new platform to fund education in emergencies so that children caught up in the next crisis are in a safe school and not at risk of child labour, early marriage, trafficking and extremism.
With your backing the new platform can and must reach at least 20 million children annually within 5 years, with a plan in place to reach every child by 2030.
Children caught up in natural disasters and conflicts need a #SafeSchool.
Sign the petition at A World at School’s site. And don’t forget that you can pop into Peace Hub to take action by sending a message of solidarity to the Borderfree Afghan Street Kids school. By taking action at both the global-political and grassroots levels we can make the biggest impact for children across the world.