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	UN child rights envoy ‘appalled’ by deadly school attacks in Homs by AFP, UN News, agencies   10 November 2014   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the suicide bombing today at a government boarding school in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, reportedly killing dozens of students and wounding countless others.   Mr. Ban reiterated his conviction that “no objective justifies wanton violence against civilians,” and called for the perpetrators to be “swiftly brought to justice through a process respectful of Nigeria’s human rights obligations and for adequate security measures to be provided for the protection of civilians.   “The Secretary-General is outraged by the frequency and brutality of attacks against educational institutions in the north of the country and reiterates his demand for an immediate cessation to these abominable crimes,” the statement said.   The attack took place earlier today at the Government Science Technical School Potiskum in Yobe State.   The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also condemned the attack on the school.   “These repeated and relentless attacks on children and schools are attacks on the future of Nigeria, a country that already has the largest number of children out of school in the world,” UNICEF said in a statement.   “We call on those with the responsibility and power to bring the perpetrators of this cruel act to justice, and to uphold their responsibilities to protect children,” the statement also said.   7 November 2014   Two deadly attacks on children in Ukraine and Syria on the same day this week serve as a “horrific reminder” of the terrible price youngsters are paying in these brutal wars, the United Nations children''s agency said today as it urged all conflict parties to keep children out of harm''s way.   In Syria, an attack on the Al Hayat Primary School in the district of Qaboun in eastern Damascus on Wednesday killed 11 children and injured many more, reported UNICEF''s country representative, Hanaa Singer.   The Qaboun assault is the latest in a series of indiscriminate attacks on schools, teachers and students. In the first nine months of 2014 alone, the United Nations in Syria has verified at least 35 such incidents that killed 105 children and injured 293.   “The real numbers are surely higher, and there are indications that attacks in some areas may have been deliberate,” Ms. Singer said, expressing her deepest sympathies to the families of the children who had lost their lives or been injured.   That same day, 5 November, at least two children were killed and four were injured in Ukraine as a result of shelling of a school sports field in Donetsk city.   Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNICEF representative Christophe Boulierac said the agency is outraged to learn of the casualties and expressed sympathy to the families of the children.   Mr. Boulierac stressed that UNICEF has repeatedly called on all parties to the conflict to uphold their responsibility to protect children, schools, and other civilian infrastructure from the conflict.   Schools should be zones of peace and safe havens where children could learn without fear of death or injury.   He reminded that all parties to any conflicts have specific obligations under international humanitarian and human rights laws to afford children special protection.   2 Oct. 2014   Double bombing kills at least 41 children at school in Syria. (AFP, agencies)   At least 41 Syrian children aged under 12 have been killed in a double bombing at a school in the government-controlled city of Homs, a monitor said.   "At least 41 schoolchildren were killed in the double bombing at the Akrameh al-Makhzumi school in Homs city today. Several children are still missing, and the toll may rise further still," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.   It is reported that a single attacker carried out both bombings. "He planted a bomb at one location at the school, and then blew himself up at another spot nearby," Abdel Rahman said.   There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.   Homs governor Talal al-Barazi gave a toll of 31 killed and 74 wounded in Wednesday"s attacks. The children were between six and nine years old, he added.   The toll is among the highest suffered by children in suicide attacks in Syria since the conflict erupted more than three years ago.   In August 2013, a chemical attack on rebel-held areas in the outskirts of Damascus killed dozens of children, and the year before 49 children were killed in the Houla "massacre" in Homs province.   The United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui today condemned the school attacks in Syria, which reportedly killed over 39 people, 30 of whom were children between age six and nine.   “Innocent children are once again victims of the brutal Syrian conflict. I am appalled by yesterday’s school attacks in the city of Homs,” said Ms. Zerrougui who was appointed by the Secretary-General in 2012.   According to a press release from Ms. Zerrougui’s Office, the perpetrator directly targeted schoolchildren and “timed his attack to inflict maximum casualties.”   “This is a new low in a conflict in which warring parties have already caused immense suffering to the country’s children,” she said.   According to Ms. Zerrougui’s Office, attacks on schools and hospitals have become a feature of the Syrian conflict and deprive millions of children of their right to education and health. Since 2011, over 3 million children have dropped out of school.   Thousands of schools inside Syria have closed their doors because they have been destroyed, damaged, or are now used for military purposes or as shelter for families forced to abandon their homes.   Targeting schools and schoolchildren are grave violations of international humanitarian law. Even in times of war, schools and hospitals must remain safe places for learning and healing.   Ms. Zerrougui called on all parties to the conflict to end such attacks and for perpetrators to be brought to justice.   08 Sep 2014   UN Security Council told of Indiscriminate, Brutal Killings Children Face in Conflict.   The multiplication of crises affecting children since the beginning of 2014 is creating unprecedented challenges that overshadow progress to date to protect them from the impact of war, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.   The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, said that she was appalled by the total disregard for human life shown by extremist armed groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Boko Haram. The situation remains dire in Syria, she said as she presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on children and armed conflict.   “We cannot afford impunity in the face of such grave violations of international law that in many cases may amount to war crimes,” said the Special Representative.   The right to life and the prohibition of killing and maiming civilians are universal principles enshrined in humanitarian law, human rights treaties, and jurisprudence.   http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/effects-of-conflict/six-grave-violations/attacks-against-schools/   Every child has a right to education.   "We see that attacks on schools, hospitals and associated staff have become an all-too-familiar aspect of today"s conflicts," the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui said at the launch of a new guidance note to assist the people monitoring, reporting and working to prevent attacks against schools and hospitals.   The Guidance Note on Attacks against Schools and Hospitals provides practical information for the UN and its partners on how to implement aspects of Security Council resolution 1998. Adopted in 2011, the resolution gives the UN a mandate to identify and list the armed forces and groups who attack schools or hospitals, or protected persons in relation to schools and hospitals.   This guidance is the first step in a program of training by all agencies and organizations, Ms. Zerrougui said referring to partners who helped to draft the guide the UN Children"s Fund (UNICEF), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).   The document spells out how UN agencies and partners can endeavor to assist parties to conflict to more fully respect children"s rights to education and health care. It also provides examples of good practices, which can be followed in strengthening Government response.   "This guidance is a call to increase partnerships involved in the protection of education and healthcare, including civil society partners," Ms. Zerrougui said.   We cannot allow classrooms of children to suffer in silence, she stressed.   Irina Bokova, chief of UNESCO, and Yoka Brandt, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, played a key role in drafting the note and participated in the launch, as did WHO chief Margaret Chan, who highlighed the links between children"s health and education.   "Attacks on schools disrupt the opportunity for children to realize their full health potential," Dr. Chan said, while attacks on hospitals greatly diminish the ability to provide health care, including emergency care at a time when it is needed the most.   Ms. Bokova called the guidance "a tool to advocate for the right to education during armed conflict and as an operational instrument to ensure schools remain protected spaces".   She said it was important to support teachers so they could cope with the challenges of teaching and learning in situations of crisis.   http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/publications/AttacksonSchoolsHospitals.pdf http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/ http://protectingeducation.org/news/ http://www.protectingeducation.org/draft-lucens-guidelines-protecting-schools-and-universities-military-use-during-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/eng/what-we-do/safeguarding-health-care/index.jsp http://www.safeguardinghealth.org/ Visit the related web page
	Justice remains elusive for Guinea stadium killings by UN Office for Human Rights   26 September 2014   The top United Nations human rights official today urged the Government of Guinea to take immediate and concrete steps to advance the investigation and prosecution of rights violations, including killings, rapes and enforced disappearances, allegedly committed by security forces against peaceful protestors at a football stadium five years ago.   “The victims have already waited far too long,” said the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.   The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press release that on 28 September 2009, tens of thousands of opposition protestors were attacked with tear gas and live ammunition by Guinean security forces. At least 156 people died, 109 women were raped and more than 1,000 people were injured. The whereabouts of dozens of individuals remain unknown five years after the events.   In the aftermath, a UN-led international commission of inquiry recommended that the Government should take appropriate measures to respond to this situation. The Guinean Government set up an investigation led by a team of three magistrates, but the probe has yet to be concluded and not a single prosecution has taken place so far.   “Five years after the Guinea stadium events, justice remains elusive for the victims,” Mr. Zeid said. “It is particularly disturbing that at least two high-ranking officials who were charged in relation to the September 2009 violations remain in influential positions within the defence and security forces.”   The High Commissioner also noted that many officials have been reluctant to respond to court summons.   “Immediate, concrete steps need to be taken to advance the quest for justice and the fight against impunity for the crimes and human rights violations that were perpetrated against unarmed civilians in Conakry in 2009,” he said, adding “a clear message needs to be sent from the highest levels that cooperation with the investigation is compulsory.”   “The best way for Guinea to put this terrible episode behind it is to confront it honestly, deal with it in accordance with the law, and in so doing reduce the possibility of such crimes being committed again by the country’s authorities,” the High Commissioner said.   http://www.fidh.org/en/africa/guinea-conakry/16103-guinea-5-years-on-no-justice-for-massacre Visit the related web page
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