eua_2014_full.pdf?utm_content=buffer4a392&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK 2014• In Syria, schools have been used as barracks forgovernment forces with tanks at the schoolgates and snipers posted on rooftops. Antigovernmentforces have also used schools asbases. 369Defensive and offensive positions or staging areasTroops use school or university buildings as defensivepositions providing protection from enemy fire, observationposts, firing positions or locations from whichto direct attacks on opposing forces.• During Ramadan in 2010, Al-Shabaab fightersentered a school in Mogadishu and told thestudents to stay in their classrooms. Thefighters set up a surface-to-air rocket launcherand fired from inside the school compound atterritory held by the Somali government.Government forces responded and one rockethit the school just as the students were finallyreleased, killing eight on their way home. 370• For six months in 2011, Yemeni governmentforces occupied the Superior Institute forHealth Science, a school for pharmacists andphysicians’ assistants on high ground in thecity of Ta’izz. Dozens of troops occupied themedical laboratory and the pharmacologydepartment, as well as the roof. A machine gunwas mounted on an armoured vehicle in theyard and machine gun and mortar rounds werefired from the school while classes were insession. 371Weapons and ammunition storageIn order to hide or simply store weapons andammunition, armed forces and armed groups havestockpiled weapons and ammunition in schools andschool grounds.• In 2010, the Armed Forces of the Philippinesand their irregular auxiliary force (the CitizenArmed Force Geographical Units) usedfunctioning public schools to store weaponsand ammunition. 372• During an international assessment in 2011 inCôte d’Ivoire following the arrest of formerPresident Laurent Gbagbo and the cessation ofhostilities, three schools were found to containfirearms and ammunition. 373• In 2012, the UN verified 36 incidents of schoolsin Yemen being used for weapons storage,sometimes resulting in their closure. 374Detention and interrogation centresArmed forces and armed groups have convertedschools into sites of detention and interrogation.Sometimes, classrooms are used temporarily to holdor interrogate individuals, possibly in connection withother military activities in or around the school.• In Syria in 2011, government authorities establishednumerous temporary holding centres inschools during massive detention campaignswhile anti-government demonstrations wereunderway. While in the schools, somedetainees were subjected to torture duringinterrogation. 375• The Israeli Defence Forces have used schools inthe West Bank for detention and interrogationwhile arresting anyone in the community agedbetween 17 and 50. 376• During the armed conflict in Libya in 2011,schools were converted into improviseddetention centres. Tajura Primary School, forexample, became a prison for several hundredcombatants who fought in support of theGaddafi regime. 377Military trainingSchools and universities make ideal locations formilitary training, fitness programmes and weaponstraining for new recruits.• In 2011, anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya conductedtraining in schools. Journalists documented atleast one instance of rebel leaders using asecondary school to instruct soldiers in the useof anti-aircraft guns. 378• During 2012, Islamist armed groups controllingnorthern Mali trained new recruits, includingchildren, in both private and public schools aswell as in Koranic schools. 379105