Education Under Attack - UNESCO Islamabad

© UNESCO/CIAfghanistan: In 2006 militantskilled 85 students and teachers anddestroyed 187 schools, according to theeducation minister. Human Rights Watchdocumented more than 190 bombings,arson and shooting attacks on teachers,school officials, students and schoolsin 2006, up from 91 such incidents in2005. 2Afghanistan: A ruined school in Kabul,Afghanistan.Colombia: On average, 42 teachersare murdered every year in Colombia. Areport 3 from the Federación Colombianade Educadores (Fecode) lists 310 murdersof teachers between 2000 and 2006.Other Fecode documents list 27 murders of teachers in 1999. Between 1999 and2001 a further 13 teachers and school employees were kidnapped or “disappeared”(this term denotes detained incommunicado, without acknowledgement, possiblykilled). 4 In 2003, it was reported that 11,000 irregular combatants were child soldiers,mostly recruited between age 7 and 13. 5Democratic Republic of the Congo: In November 2003 in Walikale territory,UN assessors found all schools had been seriously damaged, many completelypillaged and destroyed in fighting. In Djugu, 211 schools out of 228 were destroyedbetween 1999 and 2004. In 2003, an estimated 30,000 children were taking part incombat, or attached to armed groups and used for sexual or other services, many ofthem forcibly recruited. 6 Between 2004 and 2005, 18,000 were released, althoughrecruitment continued. One health centre in Kibirizi recorded 174 cases of rape,allegedly by soldiers, between July 2005 and May 2006, and in 80 per cent ofincidents the victims were girls. 72 International Herald Tribune, 29 April 2007, ‘Militants attacks on Afghan schools killed 85students last year, minister says’, an AP report.3 Federación Colombiana de Educadores ,7 January 2007, ‘La lucha Integral por los DerechosHumanos y Fecode’.4 Watchlist on Children in Armed Conflict, February 2004, Colombia.5 Joanne Mariner, Human Rights Watch, 29 September 2003, ‘Children at War in Colombia’.6 Watchlist on Children in Armed Conflict, April 2006, ‘Struggling to Survive: Children in ArmedConflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’.7 Report of the Secretary General on children and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of theCongo, 13 June 2006 (S/2006/389).15