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EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK 2014
Military use of schools and universities
Military use of school and university facilities was reported
in at least 24 of the 30 countries profiled during the 2009-
2013 period: Afghanistan, CAR, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire,
DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Indonesia,
Israel/Palestine, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand,
Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Education buildings were used as barracks to house
soldiers/fighters, bases to mount security operations,
fighting positions, prisons or detention centres, interrogation
centres, torture centres, training grounds for soldiers
and places to store weapons. Schools were also used to
indoctrinate, recruit and train students.
The forces using the schools included armed groups,
paramilitaries, armed forces, police forces and international
forces – the UN recorded five incidents of school occupation
by international military forces in Afghanistan in 2010, for
instance. 66
The country with by far the most reported incidents in 2009-
2012 was Syria where military use arising from the conflict
spiked in 2011-2012. Although it does not specify exact
figures, the UN reported numerous incidents of government
forces using schools as temporary bases or detention
centres and there were allegations that the Free Syrian Army
used schools in a number of areas as bases and as places to
store ammunition during this period. Furthermore, the
Syrian Network for Human Rights alleged in mid-January
2013 that government forces had used approximately 1,000
schools as detention and torture centres and used schools
to house security and intelligence personnel or as positions
from which to shell the surrounding area. Across the 14 other
countries with the highest incidence of military use in 2009-
2012 – Afghanistan, CAR, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC,
India, Libya, Mali, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, South
Sudan, Thailand and Yemen – a total of 923 schools and
universities were reported as being used for military
purposes. 67 In Libya, 221 schools were used by armed
groups during the 2011 uprising,according to a UN
respondent, 68 and at least one school was used to detain
hundreds of prisoners. 69 In India in 2010, more than 129
51