Qatar- Defeat attacks on schools: Sheikha Moza
Date
5/23/2016 9:51:43 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser at the special session “Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises,” at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, yesterday. Pic: A R Al Baker
DOHA/ISTANBUL: H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All, yesterday called on the international community to “fight back” to deter attacks against schools and bring the perpetrators to book.
“The destruction of schools are not just ‘accidents’ of war. Education is under attack. Our schools are the battlefield. It is time to fight back,” Sheikha Moza told the World Humanitarian Summit which opened in Istanbul yesterday.
“What is missing are the mechanisms and the political will to enforce (existing international laws). We must hold the perpetrators of these crimes responsible and accountable. Only when the perpetrators are shamed and punished will we deter others from attacking education. Only then, can we break this vicious cycle of building and destroying, building and destroying,” Sheikha Moza added.
The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani led the Qatari delegation at the opening session of the summit at Istanbul Congress Center.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the two-day summit. Representatives of 175 countries, including 57 heads of states or governments and more than 6,000 officials and representatives of international bodies and civil society organisations and media are discussing ways to better tackle the current situation in the world, what the United Nations describes as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.
“Money is not enough to fulfil our obligations to provide every child with their right to education that they deserve. Without protection and prevention, what we spend years building can be destroyed in minutes,” said Sheikha Moza, speaking at a special session, alongside Gordon Brown (UN Special Envoy for Global Education), Julia Gillard (Chair, Global Partnership for Education) and Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Chief Executive, Save the Children International).
She urged the international community to take an approach based on provision, protection, and prevention so that education is placed at the heart of efforts to address humanitarian crises around the world.
Sheikha Moza also highlighted the ongoing work of Education Above All, noting its investment in “providing quality primary education to almost seven million out of school children.”
She added that Education Above All (EAA) remained on track to enrol 10 million out of school children in education programmes by the end of the year.
EAA’s Educate A Child programme has enrolled 3.3 million children in education programmes and has commitments in place to reach its goal of 10 million children by September 2016. Among these 10 million will be at least 1.1 million Syrian refugees.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to fix the gap in humanitarian funding and share the burden of helping people in need across the globe.
In his opening remarks, Ban called on world leaders to align themselves with the five core responsibilities, such as preventing and ending conflicts and respecting the rules of war.
In 2014, the UN reported that around $540m of the roughly $135bn global aid budget was spent on decreasing disaster risk.
“I call on humanitarian organisations to work more closer together based on shared priorities to meet the needs of millions of people in crisis,” Ban said.
At the summit, at least 50 heads of governments will announce several commitments to reduce humanitarian disasters. These include: preventing and ending conflict; respecting the rules of war; addressing forced displacement; achieving gender equality; responding to climate change; ending the need for aid; and investing in humanity, media reports said.
The Prime Minister visited the Qatari Pavilion at the summit which hosts Qatar Computing Research Institute, Qatar Charity and Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF).
The Peninsula