The World's Other Malala’s: Why Students, Teachers and Schools are Targeted in Today's Wars

Venue: Room 109, Melbourne Law School

Presenters: Bede Sheppard

Around the world, in places experiencing armed conflict, schools and universities are being transformed into a part of the battlefield. Students, teachers, and schools have been deliberately targeted for attack by armed groups. Armed forces have also taken over schools and universities and used them for military purposes, such as converting them into bases and barracks. The result is that students are forced to either stay at home and interrupt their education, or study alongside armed fighters while potentially in the line of fire.

Bede Sheppard, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for children’s rights, will discuss the extent of such attacks on students, teachers, and schools around the world. He will also explain current efforts to better protect students and schools through the Safe Schools Declaration—a new international political accord that Australia has to date refused to join. He will draw upon his personal experiences investigating war crimes and other abuses against children, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine, and Yemen.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/7603-the-world-s-other-malala-s-why-students-teachers-and-schools-are