29 March 2017
Información para la Prensa N°: 098/17
The “Second International Conference on Safe Schools” was closed this afternoon at Palacio San Martín. The Conference aimed at drawing international attention to and promoting actions against the serious attacks on students, teachers, schools, and universities and the military use of educational facilities in conflict zones.
The opening event, which took place at the Ministry of Defence, was attended by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Pedro Villagra Delgado; the Deputy Minister of Defence, Ángel Tello; and the Norwegian State Secretary, Laila Bokhari, since both countries, Argentina and Norway, lead this initiative.
This meeting was a follow-up of the First Conference held in Oslo in May 2015, where the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines for Preventing the Military Use of Schools and Universities During Armed Conflicts were adopted. Both documents constitute global commitments to protect education.
Villagra Delgado, who chaired the Conference, underscored that “these Guidelines were developed on the initiative of the civil society, with existing International Humanitarian Law at its core and with a focus on the problem of regular and deliberate attacks against education. It was in this context that Argentina and Norway began to lead negotiations in Geneva, in order to obtain the political commitment of states to use these Guidelines and incorporate them into military practice.”
The Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister pointed out: “Our country is hosting this event with the goal of raising awareness amongst the international community; assessing the progress made since the Declaration was adopted; sharing examples of good practices at the domestic level; and addressing the work to be carried out on this issue to ensure effective implementation of the commitments contained in the Declaration.”
Governments signing the Declaration undertake to: improve reporting on attacks on education; investigate and prosecute possible war crimes involving schools; and promptly restore access to education when schools are attacked. It is worth noting that, since the Oslo Conference, 25 countries have endorsed the Declaration, which takes the number of States that are committed to protecting schools and other educational facilities against attacks to 62.
Since 2015, armed forces and armed groups have been using schools and universities for military purposes, such as bases, barracks, firing positions, armouries and detention centers in at least 26 countries affected by armed conflict around the world. As it turns schools into military objectives, this practice may jeopardize the safety of students and teachers and restrict access to education.
The Conference was coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence as part of the Argentine Government’s commitment to the comprehensive defence of human rights and to the strengthening of International Humanitarian Law. Over 250 persons participated in the Conference, including delegations of more than 60 States, International Organizations, NGOs, specialists in International Humanitarian Law, Heads of military academies and special guests from the civil society.
Deputy Minister of Defence Tello stated: “We have to unlock the full potential of education as an engine of peace and sustainable development. At the Ministry of Defence, we will reinforce all measures for the National Directorate for Human Rights and Humanitarian International Law to spread and promote these ideas and to train our men and women in the armed forces on this clear principle and prohibition against using Schools and Universities for military purposes.”
The endorsing states are also committed to applying the Guidelines for Preventing the Military Use of Schools and Universities During Armed Conflicts, a non-binding practical tool that provides guidance to help the parties to a conflict limit their actions with respect to the military use of schools and universities, thus safeguarding the civilian nature of these facilities.