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

PART III — COUNTRY PROFILeSkillings unattributed. 1568 By October 2011, the numberof scholars assassinated in targeted attacks bysecurity forces was 10, mostly from Homs, according tothe opposition. 1569Attacks on education in 2013As the conflict between the government of PresidentBashar al-Assad and rebel groups continued into2013, attacks persisted against Syrian schools anduniversities, their students and staff. Schools wereaffected by aerial attacks, 1570 car bombs 1571 and missilestrikes, 1572 often with high numbers of victims. InSeptember, an incendiary bomb was dropped on theplayground of the Iqraa Institute Secondary School,Aleppo province, killing 10 pupils and at least oneteacher and causing severe burns to 19 morestudents. 1573 Later that month, a fuel-air bomb landedon a high school in Raqqa killing 15 civilians, of whom14 were students and one was the school janitor. 1574 Ithas not been verified whether the schools were theintended targets in either of these two attacks.In higher education, two of the country’s most prestigiousuniversities were hit by multiple explosions. Twoexplosions killed at least 82 and wounded dozensmore, possibly as many as 150, 1575 at Aleppo Universityon the first day of mid-term examinations inJanuary. 1576 Students and university staff were believedto be among the dead. 1577 The rebels blamed agovernment air strike; the government said rebels hadattacked with rockets. 1578 A mortar shell hit the café ofDamascus University’s engineering campus on 28March, killing at least 10 students and wounding20. 1579 The government and rebels blamed each other.THAILANDDuring 2009-2012, more than 120 Buddhist andMuslim students, teachers and education staff werekilled or wounded by insurgents in the far south, whoalso did much of their recruiting in schools in 2009.Widespread military use of schools by armed forcesand paramilitary forces made them a target for attack.ContextSince early 2004, an insurgency by Muslim separatistsseeking autonomy in Thailand’s four southernmostprovinces – Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat –has led to more than 5,000 deaths, 9,000 injuries andhuman rights abuses by all sides. 1580 Three of theprovinces are predominantly ethnic Malay Muslim in acountry that is 90 per cent ethnic Thai Buddhist. 1581Despite an agreement between the government ofPrime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the separatistBarisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) on 28 February2013, 1582 hostilities were continuing in the southernborder provinces at the end of the year.Insurgents in the far south have carried out bombingsand shootings of security forces and civilians,including targeted attacks against Buddhist andMuslim teachers. 1583 There have also been revengeattacks on mosques, Islamic schools and Muslimteashops, allegedly by Buddhist vigilantes andsecurity forces. 1584Elsewhere during the reporting period, Thailand wasembroiled in a bitter power struggle between the ‘RedShirts’, supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra who hadpreviously been ousted as premier by a military coup,and the anti-Thaksin opposition ‘Yellow Shirts’ whowere supported by the military. This resulted in massprotests and crackdowns. 1585 During 2005-2011, therewas a surge in the use of lèse majesté law 1586 as ameans to prevent criticism of the monarchy and tostifle debate on reform, thus limiting academicfreedom and free speech among scholars. 1587Historically, Thai governments have used schools as atool to assimilate the southern population into theThai Buddhist mainstream. In the 1940s, thegovernment banned Islamic schools, Islamic attire,the local Malay dialect, Muslim names and theteaching of local history. Malay students were forced194