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It has been launched as part of KVIC’s “Khadi Bamboo Festival” to celebrate 75 years of independence “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.
¾ Reason for Selecting Bamboo: It grows very fast and in about three years’ time, they could be harvested.
It is also known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
¾ Significance: It will reduce desertification and provide livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support.
It will also act as havens of sustainable development and food security.
¾ Extension: KVIC is set to replicate the Project at Village Dholera in Ahmedabad district in Gujarat and Leh-Ladakh region by August this year.
z Total 15,000 bamboo saplings will be planted before August 2021.
¾ Other Initiatives to fight Desertification: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
Soil Health Card Scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (PKSY).
National Mission for Green India.
India has ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
SPARSH: System for Pension Administration Raksha Why in News Recently, the Ministry of Defence has implemented SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha).
Key Points ¾ About: It is an integrated system for automation of sanction and disbursement of defence pension. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.
CURRENT AFFAIRS JULY 2021 127 Note: www.drishtiIAS.com A Pensioner Portal is available for pensioners to view their pension related information, access services and register complaints, if any. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
SPARSH envisages establishment of Service Centres to provide last mile connectivity to pensioners who may be unable to directly access the SPARSH portal.
z The two largest banks dealing with defence pensioners – State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) – have been co-opted as Service Centres. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
¾ Other Initiative Related to Defence Pensions: One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme: It provides the payment of the same pension to military officers for the same rank for the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement.
nnn Key Points Details Summary Key Points Details Summary | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909124088.pdf | https://www.drishtiias.com/images/pdf/Monthly%20Current%20Affairs%20Consolidation%20(July%202021)%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20IF.pdf | Brunei Darussalam |
“Their War Against Education” Armed Group Attacks on Teachers, Students, and Schools in Burkina Faso H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “Their War Against Education” Armed Group Attacks on Teachers, Students, and Schools in Burkina Faso Copyright © 2020 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-8240 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice.
Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org MAY 2020 ISBN: 978-1-62313-8240 “Their War Against Education” Armed Group Attacks on Teachers, Students, and Schools in Burkina Faso Map .................................................................................................................................. i Terminology .................................................................................................................... ii Summary ......................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 10 To the Burkinabè Government ................................................................................................. 10 To the Burkinabè Defense and Security Forces ........................................................................ 11 To the Ministry of Education .................................................................................................... 12 To the Ministries of Education and Humanitarian Action .......................................................... 13 To the Ministry of Justice ......................................................................................................... 14 To Armed Islamist Groups in Burkina Faso ............................................................................... 14 To Burkina Faso’s International and Regional Partners ............................................................ 14 To the United Nations ............................................................................................................. 15 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 16 I. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Conflict and Education in Burkina Faso ........................................................................ 18 Spreading Armed Islamist Activity ........................................................................................... 18 Education in Burkina Faso ..................................................................................................... 20 Negative Consequences of the Conflict on the Education System ............................................ 23 II. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Perpetrators of Attacks on Teachers, Students and Schools ....................................... 25 III. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Attacks on Teachers and Education Professionals ..................................................... 28 Targeted Killings .................................................................................................................... 29 February 2020 (Nord): School Administrator Abducted, Killed ........................................... 30 December 2019 (Est): Village Chief, a Volunteer Teacher, Killed ........................................ 30 October 2019 (Sahel/Nord): Principal Abducted, Killed ..................................................... 32 April 2019 (Centre-Est): Five Teachers Killed in School ...................................................... 32 April 2019 (Sahel): Three School Construction Workers Killed ........................................... 34 March 2019 (Sahel): Two Teachers Abducted, Killed ......................................................... 34 November 2017 (Nord): Three Teachers Shot, One Killed ................................................... 35 March 2017 (Sahel): Principal Killed ................................................................................. 36 Abduction and Assault ............................................................................................................ 36 January 2020 (Est): Two Teachers Abducted, Robbed, and Beaten ..................................... 37 December 2019 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Two School Employees Threatened, One Beaten ... 38 November 2019 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Principal Abducted | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
2019 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Principal Abducted ............................................... 39 October 2019 (Sahel): Two Teachers Assaulted, Schools Burned ...................................... 40 April 2019 (Est): Three Teachers Abducted ........................................................................ 41 November 2018 (Nord): Five School Employees Beaten ..................................................... 42 May 2018 (Centre-Nord): Principal Assaulted, Residence Burned ...................................... 43 April 2018 (Sahel): Two-Month Abduction of Teacher ........................................................ 44 Threats and Intimidation ......................................................................................................... 45 Detained on the Road ....................................................................................................... 45 Visits to Residences ........................................................................................................ 46 Threats in Front of Villagers ............................................................................................. 46 IV. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Attacks and Abuses Against Students ....................................................................... 48 Students Killed and Injured During Attacks ............................................................................ 48 January 2020 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Seven Students Killed in IED Attack ......................... 48 April 2019 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Student Injured in Attack Near School ........................... 51 April 2018 (Sahel): Student Killed in Attack at School ....................................................... 51 Intimidation and Harassment of Students ............................................................................... 51 V. Attacks on Schools .................................................................................................... 53 Attacks During Class Time ....................................................................................................... 55 January 2020 (Est): Five Schools Attacked ........................................................................ 56 October 2019 (Boucle du Mouhoun): Two Schools Attacked .............................................. 56 April 2019 (Centre-Nord): Attack on High School ............................................................... 57 April 2018 (Sahel): Attack on Middle School ..................................................................... 59 Threatening Raids During Class ....................................................................................... 60 Other Schools Destroyed, Damaged, and Pillaged ................................................................... 61 Schools Damaged by Explosives ....................................................................................... 63 Threatening Notes .................................................................................................................. 65 VI. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Military Use of Schools ............................................................................................. 67 Burkinabè Security Forces’ Use of Schools .............................................................................. 70 Centre-Nord Region .......................................................................................................... 70 Sahel Region .................................................................................................................... 73 Schools Attacked Due to Military Use ...................................................................................... 73 Armed Islamist Groups’ Use of Schools ................................................................................... 74 VII. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Negative Consequences for Students and Teachers .................................................. 76 Psychosocial, Physical, and Financial Consequences for Teachers .......................................... 76 Psychosocial Consequences for Students ............................................................................... 78 Fear-Induced Withdrawals from School ................................................................................... 79 Decreased Quality of Education and Students Falling Behind ................................................. 80 Accessing Alternative Schools: Risks for Children Traveling, Living Alone ................................ 81 Increased Child Labor ............................................................................................................. 83 Disproportionate Impact on Girls ........................................................................................... 84 VIII. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Responses, Gaps, and Needs ................................................................................. 88 Government Efforts ................................................................................................................ 88 Humanitarian Support ...................................................................................................... 91 Gaps and Needs .................................................................................................................... 92 Overcrowded, Under-resourced Host Schools ................................................................... 93 Lack of Psychosocial and Material Support to Victims ....................................................... 95 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 102 Annex I: Breakdown of Documented Attacks ................................................................. 103 Annex II: Letter from the Education Ministry ................................................................. 104 Annex III: Letter from the Humanitarian Action Ministry ............................................... 109 Annex IV: Safe Schools Declaration ............................................................................... 116 Annex V: Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict .............................................................................................................. 119 Annex VI: Examples from African Union Countries of Good Practice in Protecting Schools and Universities ........................................................................................................... 122 i HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Map © 2020 John Emerson/Human Rights Watch “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” ii Terminology Students: A “student” may refer to a child (under age 18) or an adult (18 or older). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In Burkina Faso, many students begin school late, or stop and restart, with the result that primary to secondary students can range from 6 to around 25 years old, or sometimes older.
Teachers: In Burkina Faso, all teachers are referred to as enseignants.
Primary school teachers are also called instituteurs or maîtres; middle school and high school teachers are also called professeurs.
School principals: Directeurs for primary and middle schools; proviseurs for high schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Many also teach classes, and thus may be considered both teachers and administrators.
“School administrators”: May include principals, supervisors, bursars, treasurers, stewards, and others.
“Education professional”: Teachers, school administrators, members of teachers’ unions, or local education officials (such as basic education district inspectors).
School year in Burkina Faso: October to June. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
School year in Burkina Faso: October to June.
School levels in Burkina Faso: • Primary school (école primaire): grades CP1, CP2, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2 • Post-primary school / middle school (école post-primaire, or collège d’enseignement générale): grades 6ème, 5ème, 4ème, 3ème; BEPC exam • Secondary school / high school (école secondaire, or lycée): grades seconde, première, terminale; BAC exam • Note: some combined schools include both post-primary and secondary levels. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Summary When armed men on motorcycles tore up to a school in Béléhédé village in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region in early 2018, panic ensued.
“I was in class when the terrorists came.
...
They fired a shot, and we all fled to save ourselves,” said Boureima S. (not his real name), a 14- year-old student at the time. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“Afterwards, when we went back there, I saw they had burned the principal’s motorcycle... the [school’s] office... and the students’ notebooks.” Boureima’s school closed following the attack in 2018 and never reopened.
When Human Rights Watch spoke with him in February 2020, he had not yet stepped back inside a classroom.
Like hundreds of thousands of students in Burkina Faso, Boureima’s education was cut short by the country’s steadily worsening armed conflict. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Since the first recorded attacks on Burkinabè schools in 2017, the number and severity of such attacks have surged.
Armed Islamist groups allied with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State have burned, looted, and destroyed scores of schools.
“It’s their war against education,” one teacher said.
The armed groups have also intimidated students, terrorized parents into keeping their children out of school, and killed, abducted, brutalized, or threatened scores of teachers. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In many cases, the assailants committed the abuses directly in front of terrified students, leaving both teachers and children physically or mentally scarred.
While armed Islamist groups officially claimed only a few attacks, assailants typically justified their attacks by citing their opposition to “French” education, insisting that children should study only Arabic and the Quran, or not study at all. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
These attacks, the terror they generated, and worsening insecurity have resulted in a cascade of school closures across the country, undermining students’ right to education.
By early March 2020, the Ministry of National Education, Literacy, and the Promotion of National Languages (“education ministry,” or MENAPLN) reported that over 2,500 schools had closed due to attacks or insecurity in Burkina Faso, negatively affecting almost 350,000 students and over 11,200 teachers. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
This was prior to the country’s Covid-19 outbreak, which resulted in the temporary closure of all schools from mid-March. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 2 Based on Human Rights Watch interviews with 177 people—including 74 teachers and school administrators, 35 current and former students, 12 parents, and other witnesses to attacks, relatives of victims, community leaders, experts, aid workers, and officials—this report documents attacks on students, education professionals, and schools allegedly carried out by armed Islamist groups in six regions of Burkina Faso between 2017 and 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Burkina Faso has been grappling with armed Islamist insurgent groups since the emergence in 2016 of Ansaroul Islam, a homegrown group with roots in the country’s northern Sahel administrative region.
Ansaroul Islam and a patchwork of groups linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) regularly attack civilians and civilian objects as well as military targets.
These attacks have reportedly caused more than 1,800 deaths. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In 2019, there was a spike in abuses by these groups, including attacks on teachers, students, and schools.
In response, the Burkinabè security forces carried out counterterrorism operations that resulted in numerous human rights violations, including the killing of civilians.
From January 2019 to April 2020, the number of people displaced from their communities by the conflict skyrocketed from 87,000 to over 830,000, according to the United Nations.
Hundreds of teachers were among those who fled. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Hundreds of teachers were among those who fled.
Burned academic materials on a teacher’s desk in Minima village primary school, Centre-Nord region, following an attack by armed Islamists on May 2, 2019.
June 13, 2019.
© 2019 Noufou Yampa 3 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 The bulk of the attacks on teachers, students, and schools occurred in 5 of the country’s 13 administrative regions: Sahel, Nord, Centre-Nord, Est, and Boucle du Mouhoun. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
However, the most egregious attack to date—the execution of five teachers in a school in April 2019—took place in Centre-Est region.
Though Ansaroul Islam and ISGS claimed a small number of the education-related attacks, most went unclaimed.
Documented Attacks and Abuses Human Rights Watch documented 126 attacks on students, education professionals, and schools occurring between 2017 and 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Threatening raids by armed men ordering school closures or teacher departures (28 cases) have been included in the totals.
Many additional attacks were reported in the media and elsewhere, suggesting the total number of attacks during this period is likely much higher.
The documented cases include 107 attacks on or at schools, half of which took place in 2019.
At least 12 of the attacks on schools involved violence against education workers, and students were present during at least 31 incursions. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In 84 cases, attackers damaged, destroyed, or pillaged school infrastructure, materials or supplies.
(For a breakdown of all documented attacks by year, region, and type, see Annex I.) | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
During attacks, armed men killed, beat, abducted, and threatened education workers; intimidated and threatened students; set classrooms, offices, and teachers’ residences on fire; shot at windows, doors, walls and roofs; set off explosives; burned school documents and academic materials; stole, damaged, or destroyed school employees’ property; and pillaged supplies from canteen warehouses and storerooms. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
This report documents the targeted killings of 12 teachers and school administrators, as well as three school construction workers, between 2017 and March 2020.
Twelve of these fifteen killings took place in 2019.
The report also documents dozens of other attacks on teachers, including assault and abduction.
A parent who arrived at a school just after an attack described the horrors he witnessed: “At the school we found the fire still burning. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
We found the teachers there who had been beaten, some so severely that they couldn’t speak...
They were in shock.” One of the teachers said, “Some students... were there watching when they beat us...
They were “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 4 crying.” In another case, a teacher who was abducted, robbed, and threatened said: “They tied my arms, covered my face, and took me away by motorcycle.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
...
I was so afraid.” In May 2020, the education ministry reported that 222 education workers had been “victims of terrorist attacks” as of late April.
While children were not targeted for violence during the attacks on schools, at least one child was killed and one injured by stray bullets during attacks at or near schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Students have also been killed in other attacks on civilians, including seven students returning from school break who were killed in January 2020 when an explosive device detonated under their public transport bus.
“I saw my classmates dead,” said one student. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“I saw my classmates dead,” said one student.
Another said he lost a friend in the attack: “It has affected me to the point that I can’t sleep... I’ve continued school, but sometimes I’m following a lesson and I get lost.” Students have also been threatened and harassed by armed Islamists to stop attending school.
Human Rights Watch documented three cases in which students were forced to watch as insurgents destroyed their notebooks. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
A 16-year-old student recounted: “The jihadists... grabbed our backpacks and took out the notebooks, and they said, ‘Watch closely!’ Then they burned our notebooks.” Teachers and villagers inspect the damage at Sillaléba village primary school in Nasséré commune, Centre-Nord region, after an attack in April 2019.
Attackers started fires in three classrooms, burned school materials, damaged five motorcycles, and stole three motorcycles and a computer. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
© 2019 Harouna Sawadogo 5 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Military Use of Schools Human Rights Watch documented the alleged use of 10 schools by members of the Burkinabè armed forces, the Defense and Security Forces (Forces de Défense et de Sécurité, FDS), for military purposes in Centre-Nord and Sahel regions in 2019, including three occupied as bases for six months to a year.
In at least eight cases, the schools had reportedly closed due to insecurity prior to the occupation. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
For one case, there were conflicting accounts regarding the timeline of the military’s arrival and the school’s closure.
The use of schools for military purposes puts important education infrastructure at risk of damage and destruction in the event of an attack on the soldiers deployed at the school.
At least four schools in Burkina Faso were attacked during or directly after the military’s occupation of the schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Additionally, presumed armed Islamists carried out the execution of a villager at a school in Sahel region in 2018, and they allegedly occupied at least five schools for short daytime or overnight stays in Centre-Nord region in 2019. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Negative Consequences for Students, Teachers, Society Burkina Faso already faced major challenges to ensuring education for all children, due to factors such as poverty, poor school infrastructure, poor access, low completion rates, and insufficient numbers of trained teachers, particularly in rural areas.
Additional barriers for girls included gender bias, high levels of child marriage, and sexual violence and harassment in and en route to school. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The education-related attacks and general insecurity—along with the Covid-19 pandemic—have exacerbated those challenges, reversing decades of progress in increasing school attendance.
Attacks on schools and class disruptions have reduced the quality of education students receive and put many students behind in their studies.
One student said that she had failed her final exam after an attack forced her school to close for weeks, leaving her unable to prepare. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Another said, “It makes me unhappy, to not be able to finish, to have to retake classes, to not even have any documents to show you took the class.
... You can’t even be sure you will continue your studies.” Attacks have caused extensive fear-induced withdrawals from schools, as well as long- term psychosocial consequences for students.
“Many students don’t even want to look at “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 6 a school again,” said one teacher.
“The attack [on my school] really disturbed me... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“The attack [on my school] really disturbed me...
I don’t have the spirit to go back to school,” said a former student.
Other students, despite the countless barriers in their way, are determined to return to school.
“I want to go to school because it’s good,” said a 15-year-old girl who had been out of school for an entire academic year.
“I want to be a teacher.” In their desperation to continue classes, many children affected by school closures enrolled in schools in towns away from home. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Some began commuting long distances, exposed to risks on the road.
Others moved to towns to live in groups of children, without an adult family member, putting them at risk of exploitation and violence.
These children often live in squalid conditions, struggling to pay for food and school fees.
Students sit crammed up to five at desks meant for two, in overcrowded classes of up to 125 students, at a primary school in Kaya, a town hosting tens of thousands of displaced people in Centre-Nord region. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
January 29, 2020.
© 2020 Lauren Seibert/Human Rights Watch 7 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 This report also documents cases of child labor resulting from school closures, including out-of-school children working in the markets, as domestic help, in gold mines, and making bricks.
It also explores how girls may be less likely to be re-enrolled in school than boys and face increased risks of child marriage when out of school. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Teachers have also suffered devastating consequences as a result of attacks, including trauma, physical problems, and loss of everything they owned.
“[They] set a fire in my house.
...
I found everything charred—there was nothing left,” said one teacher.
“I get migraines... my head and entire body hurts,” said another.
At least two pregnant teachers experienced miscarriages following attacks on schools.
Attacks on education can have an incalculable long-term effect on society. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“Large numbers of children will miss out on the education necessary for their cognitive and social- emotional development, which will make them vulnerable to armed terrorist groups.
That’s what the terrorists want—children to be ignorant, so they can influence them and put whatever they want in their heads,” said Jacob Yarabatioula, a Burkinabè researcher specializing in terrorism. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“We all should fear this.” Legal Protections During an armed conflict such as is occurring in Burkina Faso, international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, apply to both national armed forces and non-state armed groups.
Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians including teachers and students, as well as on civilian objects such as schools, are violations of the laws of war. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Individuals who ordered or were involved in such attacks, including summary executions, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, and looting, are responsible for war crimes.
Attacks on schools may also deprive students of their right to education, protected under international human rights law, notably the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In 2017, Burkina Faso endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political agreement committing countries to a range of measures aimed at strengthening prevention and response related to attacks on students, teachers, and schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
By doing so, Burkina Faso committed to using the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 8 Use during Armed Conflict, which urge parties to armed conflicts not to use schools—and particularly not functioning schools—“for any purpose in support of the military effort.” Responses and Needs The Burkinabè government has taken important steps to implement measures in line with the Safe Schools Declaration. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
These initiatives, notably those aimed at ensuring continued access to education, included creating a national strategy and technical secretariat on “education in emergencies,” redeploying teachers, working to reopen schools, organizing catch-up sessions for students, and instructing schools to enroll displaced students “systematically and without fees.” Though the international humanitarian response plan in Burkina Faso remains underfunded, aid agencies have provided crucial support to government efforts and partnered on several initiatives, such as setting up temporary learning spaces. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
This report identifies several gaps and needs in the response efforts to date, including the insufficient resources, personnel, and infrastructure devoted to schools enrolling displaced students.
“The schools are saturated!” said a local official in Centre-Nord region prior to the Covid-19 closures.
“One class can have up to 150 students,” a teacher reported. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Another problem is the lack of psychosocial support to teachers and students who experienced education-related attacks, as well as delayed or nonexistent government compensation to teachers who lost property in attacks by armed groups.
“The attack hurt me very much, but the fact that after the attack, we weren’t supported... that’s what still bothers me,” said one teacher. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Other issues include the lack of adequate security for many schools operating in at-risk regions, as well as the government’s failure to regularly collect and share sufficient data on education-related attacks and military occupation of schools, which can hinder response efforts.
The Burkinabè government should immediately address these issues, and its humanitarian and international partners should consider increasing their support to meet the identified needs. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Authorities should pay attention to the ways in which school closures 9 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 differently impact boys and girls, and should address the particular challenges to education for girls.
The government should also take concrete measures to deter the use of schools for military purposes, drawing upon examples of good practice by other African Union countries, and at a minimum implementing the Guidelines on Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Armed Islamist groups should cease all attacks on teachers and schools, extrajudicial killings, abductions, and other serious laws-of-war violations and human rights abuses.
Students, parents, and teachers have suffered immensely as a result of attacks on education in Burkina Faso.
Education has become one of the greatest casualties of the conflict, crushing the hopes of hundreds of thousands of children for a better future.
During times of insecurity, maintaining access to education is vital. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
If children remain in safe and protective environments, schools can provide an important sense of normalcy essential to children’s development and psychological well-being.
It is crucial that a generation of children in Burkina Faso do not lose access to education.
A temporary learning space at a public primary school in Djibo, Sahel region, burned down on March 13, 2020 in an alleged armed Islamist attack. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
© 2020 Private “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 10 Recommendations To the Burkinabè Government • During the period in which schools remain closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, prioritize and expand efforts to continue education for all children through available distance-learning programs, including educational radio and television programming and online education resources, as well as contextually- tailored approaches for localities with limited access to these technologies. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• When schools are reopened nationally after Covid-19 lockdowns are lifted, ensure that all children regain access to education.
In particular: o Ensure that students deprived of access to education as a result of armed conflict are promptly given access to accessible alternative schools.
o In areas where children are unable to enroll in schools, ensure the provision of alternative learning opportunities such as community education, distance learning, and temporary learning spaces. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
o Ensure that any post-Covid-19 “back-to-school” campaigns and remedial classes are inclusive of children who previously stopped studies due to attacks on schools, insecurity, or displacement; and continue and expand distance-learning programs established in response to Covid-19 to benefit these children.
o Encourage parents who had withdrawn their children from school due to fear of attack to re-enroll them, or to make use of distance learning programs or temporary learning spaces. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
o Consider implementing special education outreach programs for displaced children who have never attended school, including those from nomadic Peuhl communities.
• Rebuild and re-equip damaged or destroyed schools as soon as possible. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Increase support to overloaded “host schools” taking in large numbers of displaced students, with a view to expanding their capacity, including by constructing additional classrooms, deploying additional teachers, and providing more desks, materials, and canteen food supplies. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
11 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 • Take greater measures to protect schools that are operating in high-risk areas, including by setting up prevention measures (risk mapping and early warning systems) and rapid reporting and response systems for attacks on schools.
This should include setting up a hotline for teachers and parents to quickly report threats or attacks on schools to local security forces and education authorities. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Take concrete measures—for example, through legislation, standing orders, and training—to deter the military use of schools, drawing upon examples of good practice by other African Union countries, and at a minimum implementing the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines on Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict.
• Develop and expand the work and capacity of the Technical Secretariat for Education in Emergencies. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Consider permitting teachers to adopt alternate listings for their “profession” on their national identification cards, in order to decrease their risk of being targeted.
• Address barriers to girls’ education, including implementing nationwide programs to empower girls to attend school and ensuring that “education in emergencies” responses address the particular needs of pregnant girls and young mothers of school-going age. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
To the Burkinabè Defense and Security Forces • Take greater steps to ensure the protection and security of schools operating in high-security risk areas, including by increasing patrols, while minimizing activities that would turn schools into military targets.
• Vacate all schools being occupied as military bases where feasible alternatives exist, and where they do not, take steps to identify or create feasible alternatives. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Increase logistics planning and supplies to minimize the need to use schools, and consider using temporary accommodations such as tents.
• Order commanding officers not to use the buildings or property of functioning schools for military purposes such as camps, barracks, or deployment. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Draw upon examples of good practice by other African Union countries and implement the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, which Burkina Faso committed to use by endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration in 2017.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 12 • Incorporate protections for schools from military use in military doctrine, operational orders, trainings, and other means of dissemination to ensure compliance throughout the chain of command. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Ensure that doctrine and trainings applicable to Burkinabè armed forces being deployed on United Nations peacekeeping missions reflect the requirement of the UN’s 2012 Infantry Battalion Manual that “schools shall not be used by the military in their operations.” To the Ministry of Education (Ministry of National Education, Literacy, and the Promotion of National Languages) • Ensure availability and accessibility of schools, effectively implement the Safe Schools Declaration, and work with school authorities, community leaders and parents to ensure better security for schools in conflict-affected regions. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Ensure that teachers and administrators are not pressured to reopen schools in insecure zones where there are credible threats to their safety, without appropriate security measures.
• Ensure that public schools follow the ministry’s instructions to eliminate school fees for displaced students.
• Designate a fund to support schools hosting displaced students, and ensure they have adequate personnel, infrastructure, and equipment. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Extend temporary learning spaces (both temporary classrooms for formal schooling, and “child-friendly” spaces) and other “education in emergencies” programs to reach additional towns and sites hosting large numbers of displaced people, prioritizing those that have not yet benefitted from these programs. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Provide timely compensation to education workers who suffered property loss or injury in targeted attacks, and take steps to share information and increase public communication regarding public school employees’ entitlements in this regard.
• Expand data collection efforts to include the following, disaggregated by gender: o Attacks on students, teachers, and schools: date and location; type of school; victims and suspected perpetrators; number of students affected. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
o Military use of schools: types and locations of schools being used; purpose and duration of use; the unit or group making use of the school; whether 13 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 the school had ceased functioning prior to military occupation; student attendance prior, during, and after the period of use. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Support to Schools in Conflict-Affected Areas • Take greater steps to ensure the protection of schools operating in high-risk areas, including by implementing protocols and a rapid reporting and response mechanism (with a hotline) for school attacks, in order to ensure that the relevant authorities are informed, and timely assistance provided.
• Extend training in risk mitigation and emergency response to cover all schools in at-risk areas and assist schools to develop individualized plans. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Improve school infrastructure and construct walls or fences around schools as needed, in order to provide some measure of increased protection.
• Equip all schools, including those rebuilt or rehabilitated following attacks, with adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
To the Ministries of Education and Humanitarian Action (Ministry of National Education, Literacy, and the Promotion of National Languages; Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, Family, and Humanitarian Action) Support to Victims and Witnesses of Attacks • Ensure that all teachers and school administrators who are victims of attacks receive timely, appropriate, and subsidized medical and psychosocial support, and ensure that such support includes follow up. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Dispatch appropriate medical and psychosocial experts to the victim’s location, or as near as possible, to ensure that victims are not required to travel long distances to obtain care.
If victims are required to travel, ensure that transportation, lodging, and other expenses are covered.
• Inform all public-school teachers about how they can access free support services. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Establish a system to follow up with students who have witnessed attacks in order to assess their psychological and emotional well-being, and provide counseling services or other treatment as necessary.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 14 Reducing Negative Impacts on Children • Develop and implement measures to remedy the disproportionate impact of school closures on girls, including by working to reduce child marriage and adopting measures to assist girls who have lost access to education. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Follow up on reported cases of children living alone to continue their studies, to ensure these children are placed in the care of an adult family member or guardian.
• Implement programs to support out-of-school children and reduce child labor.
• Proceed with the establishment of Community Child Protection Units as soon as possible, and ensure that units are set up in displacement camps and sites. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
To the Ministry of Justice • Ensure impartial investigation and appropriate prosecution of members of armed Islamist groups implicated in unlawful attacks on students, teachers, and schools, and for other abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
To Armed Islamist Groups in Burkina Faso • Cease all violations of the laws of war, including attacks on civilians and civilian structures related to education, such as the killing, abduction, assault, robbery, and intimidation of teachers, school administrators and students; and the looting, burning and damaging of schools.
• Cease human rights abuses against students and teachers, as well as threats undermining children’s right to education. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Cease the indiscriminate use explosive devices, including on routes used by civilian vehicles.
• Refrain from using schools for military purposes.
To Burkina Faso’s International and Regional Partners • Urge the Burkinabè government and military to adopt the above recommendations and support their implementation. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Continue to support and consider expanding “education in emergencies” programs in Burkina Faso, notably to benefit still-unreached children affected by conflict- 15 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 related school closures, as well as to build capacity among “host schools” accepting large numbers of displaced students.
• Support victim rehabilitation in Burkina Faso, including psychosocial care for teachers and students who experienced attacks. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
To the United Nations • The UN secretary-general should include Burkina Faso in his annual report on children and armed conflict to the UN Security Council, initially as a situation of concern, pending the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
• Pending the establishment of a formal Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on children and armed conflict, the UN country team should actively document and verify cases of grave violations against children, including attacks on students, teachers, and schools, and provide this information to the special representative to the secretary-general for children and armed conflict.
The special representative should also actively request this information. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 16 Methodology The report is based on in-person interviews conducted in the cities of Ouagadougou and Kaya in Burkina Faso during four weeks between December 2019 and February 2020, as well as telephone interviews conducted between December 2019 and April 2020.
The attacks documented took place between January 2017 and March 2020.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 177 people, including 74 education professionals, 35 current or former students, and 12 parents of students. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The current and former students included 22 children (13 girls, 9 boys) ages 10-17, and 13 young adults (9 women, 4 men) ages 18-26.
The remaining interviews were with witnesses to abuses, relatives of victims, civil society members, community leaders, humanitarian workers, UN officials, security analysts, education ministry officials, and local government officials. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Interviewees included current or former residents of seven regions: Boucle du Mouhoun, Centre, Centre-Est, Centre-Nord, Est, Nord, and Sahel.
Interviews were conducted in French, Mooré (spoken by ethnic Mossi), and Fulfulde (spoken ethnic Peuhl).
Interviews in Mooré and Fulfulde were conducted with interpreters.
To maintain security for interviewees, all in-person interviews were conducted in or around Ouagadougou, the capital, and Kaya, a city in Centre-Nord region. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Some individuals travelled to these cities for the interviews, while others were already there, having previously fled violence.
Nearly all survivors of attacks and witnesses to abuses by armed Islamist groups expressed extreme anxiety about their identities being revealed.
Names and identifying information of many interviewees have therefore been withheld to protect their safety.
All children’s names have been withheld or replaced by pseudonyms. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The Human Rights Watch researcher informed all interviewees of the nature and purpose of the research, and of Human Rights Watch’s intention to publish a report with the information gathered.
The researcher obtained oral consent for each interview and gave each interviewee the opportunity to decline to answer questions.
Interviewees did not 17 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 receive material compensation for speaking with Human Rights Watch, however travel expenses incurred by interviewees were reimbursed. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
On April 20, 2020, Human Rights Watch sent three letters to the Burkinabè government: one to the education ministry; one to the humanitarian action ministry; and one to the Burkinabè ambassador to the United States, requesting that the letter be transmitted to the prime minister and the ministries of defense, security, justice, and human rights.
The letters presented our preliminary findings and included questions on the government’s responses to education-related attacks and the military use of schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
On May 18, 2020, Human Rights Watch received two letters, one from the education ministry and one from the humanitarian action ministry, with detailed responses to our questions.
Certain elements of these responses have been integrated into the report, and the letters are included as Annexes II and III.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 18 I. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 18 I.
Conflict and Education in Burkina Faso Spreading Armed Islamist Activity Across the West Africa portion of the Sahel—a vast semi-arid region south of the Sahara Desert—armed conflict and violence among non-state armed groups and national armed forces, underscored by the growing presence of armed Islamist groups, has led to a humanitarian and security crisis. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, over 4,000 people were killed in 2019 alone, according to one estimate, and over 1.1 million people were displaced by early 2020.1 In January 2020, the United Nations called the levels of violence “unprecedented.” 2 Perpetrators of violence against civilians include armed Islamist groups allied to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State; ethnic self-defense or separatist groups; and state security forces. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |