New GCPEA Education Under Attack 2022 Report
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) has launched the Education Under Attack 2022 report. This report is a global study of attacks on schools, universities, their students and staff, in 2020 and 2021. On Thursday 16 June 2022, from 09.00 to 11.00am at the Palais des Nations (UNOG), GCPEA will present the findings from the report. Please find attached the invitation flyer. Register to attend the event here before 15 June 2022.
About the report
In the 2022 Education Under Attack report, GCPEA found that attacks on education unfortunately increased in 2020 and 2021, as compared to 2019, with over 5,000 reported attacks on education and cases of military use of schools and universities around the world, harming over 8,500 students and educators. Countries where attacks increased included: Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, and Nigeria. We observed decreases in South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, largely related to conflict de-escalation.
Of great concern, military use of schools and universities more than doubled in 2020 and 2021, as compared to 2018 and 2019. Nearly 40 percent – or over 220 reported cases of military use – occurred in Myanmar alone. Military use also increased in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Iraq.
Universities were also caught in the crossfire. GCPEA identified at least 320 reports of attacks on higher education. Over 580 university students or personnel were injured, abducted, or killed in attacks, and another 1,450 were detained, arrested, or convicted.
The report also highlights an emerging trend. Approximately one-fifth of all attacks on education in the last two years involved explosive weapons. These attacks had particularly devastating effects, killing or injuring countless students and educators and damaging hundreds of schools and universities.
These findings are alarming. But the report also gives reason for hope by shedding light on the tremendous progress in protecting education in recent years. Since the last report was launched in 2020, 10 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, bringing the total to 114.
In 2022, there will be critical opportunities for states and parties to conflict to take concrete actions to better protect education in conflict. In particular, GCPEA recommends four actions:
- National and international justice institutions should investigate attacks on education and hold perpetrators to account.
- States and relevant organizations should strengthen the monitoring and reporting of attacks on education.
- Armed parties should stop attacks on schools and avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, including near schools or universities or along routes to or from them.
- Education providers should continue to expand distance-learning and other alternative programs established in response to Covid-19 to benefit learners out of school due to attacks.
Please find below the links to the Education Under Attack 2022 report and related resources:
- Education under Attack 2022 full report
- Executive Summary (English) and (French)
- Report website
- Press release
- Event registration