Germany

Present in Lucens.

2015: Present at the First International Conference on the SSD in Oslo.

Consistently unsupportive during the drafting of the Guidelines and the consultations on the SSD. Main arguments put forward: Guidelines go beyond IHL and are formulated in a manner that sounds too binding, same goes for the SSD; enhanced protection that the Guidelines aim to give to schools can encourage armed groups to target them even more (??!!!); both Guidelines and SSD were not developed through a “proper” inter-governmental process. These positions were articulated by the Geneva mission and in capital. German NGOs mobilized to get the issue to be debated in Parliament. They gained support from the Green Party but the government blocked a motion to discuss the issue in Parliament and sent it instead to the Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs.

May-June 2015: Germany attended the Oslo Conference and made a statement (Oslo Ambassador) where they highlighted again their concerns. Other non-supportive countries attended the Conference, but Germany was the only one that made a statement.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “As we now stand, 20 years after the presentation of the Machel report and five years after the adoption of resolution 1998 (2011), on attacks against schools and hospitals during the last German presidency of the Council, let me conclude by reaffirming Germany’s unfailing commitment to the protection of children victimized by armed conflicts and to Special Representative Zerrougui and her team. The implementation of the children and armed conflict agenda is more urgent than ever and will remain one of our top priorities.”

March 2017: UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, and several other NGOs issued a letter to the Foreign Minister of Germany encouraging endorsement of the SSD. Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. Ambassador indicated that he would reopen discussion in Berlin.

April 2017: Save NY raised the Declaration in discussions.

April 2017: HRW meetings with the foreign office and the ministry of economic cooperation and development went well. HRW focused on the situation of attacks on students, teachers, and schools, and the military use of schools in Pakistan, and thereby sharing our recommendation that Pakistan endorse the Safe Schools Declaration. We used that as a way to show the importance of the Declaration in another context. The ministry of economic cooperation and development offered to reach out to the foreign office to understand their concerns better. This was the aim, to get them talking among themselves about the declaration, and for the foreign office to continue to be hearing about it from different voices and different places.

May 2017: Save DE reaching out to NGO group to move forward with advocacy.

June 2017: Save the Children Germany continues to advocate for Germany to sign the Safe Schools Declaration following the September 2017 Federal Elections. As part of this work, Save the Children Germany is coordinating a group of NGOs to organize a roundtable discussion with the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, other governmental ministries, a political think tank, and representatives from the French and Canadian embassies, in order to support France and Canada to share information on the implications of joining the Declaration.

July 2017: Save the Children UK discussed joint efforts with UNICEF France to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France to conduct peer-to-peer advocacy for endorsement towards Germany, the United Kingdom and others. Save the Children Germany is coordinating a group of organisations, including Terres des Hommes, Kindernothilfe, CBM International, World Vision, Plan International, and UNICEF to develop an advocacy strategy for endorsement of the Declaration. Human Rights Watch has been conducting outreach to professors of international law in Germany to raise awareness of the Declaration and encourage them to advocate for endorsement.

August 2017:Save the Children Germany continues to coordinate a group of organisations in Berlin, and will host a meeting in September with representatives of the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Social Affairs, and the embassy of France.The Mission of Austria advised that the government will carry out peer advocacy to persuade Germany to endorse the Declaration. The representative in Geneva will speak with the expert in the Mission of Germany.

September 2017: On 5 September, Save the Children Germany hosted a meeting together with a group of civil society organizations, with the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Social Affairs. The embassy of France was also represented. Julia from Save Germany reported that the meeting was very positive, and that it is a question of when and how the government will endorse, rather than if. The government requested some additional material on the Declaration and some examples of implementation. Julia is preparing a package of information. Her advice at this stage is not to apply public pressure, as the process is more in the governments’ hands rather than civil society.

September 2017: In September, Save the Children Germany hosted a meeting together with a group of civil society organizations, with the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Social Affairs. The embassy of France was also represented. The meeting was very positive. While endorsement will take some time, it seems that it is now a question of when and how the government will endorse, rather than if. The advice received from France on how they moved to endorse seems to have been particularly helpful. Austria, Canada, and France are conducting peer advocacy. Meeting in Berlin: As planned, it was a quite informal and closed round which was very much appreciated by the representatives of the ministries and lead to fruitful and frank discussions. Besides the organizing civil society organizations, the ministry of defense, the ministry of foreign affairs (division of international humanitarian law and division of human rights) participated as well as a representative of the French embassy. The discussions between the ministries were mainly focused on the status quo and concerns – but after two years of avoiding the topic at all we take this as success. The bottom line was that there won’t endorse overnight but that the German government is absolutely supportive now that the goal of this way and follow-up discussions should be the endorsement of the SSD. Especially helpful was the input from the representative of the French embassy who explained the reasons for France to sign (while having the same concerns as Germany in the beginning). For example she shared with us that France sent a letter accompanying their announcement which underlines the primacy of the international humanitarian law etc. – this information was very much appreciated by the German government and I suppose they will choose a similar solution.

December 2017: Update by Susanne Hassel from UNICEF, who was in touch with the unit in the lead in the foreign office. “Overall, 2017 was successful advocacy year and we can be optimistic that Germany is getting close to signing the SSD in the upcoming months (having in mind the political situation of not having a coalition at this moment). Regarding your questions, here are my main reflections: 1. I used the last weeks to catch up on the SSD debates and reached out to UNICEF, who is strongly involved in the discussion. Also, I was able raise the importance of the SSD during a stakeholder exchange between NGOs and the speaker for defense policies of the Green Party, who picked up the SSD as an important ask from the Greens in the upcoming legislative term. According to UNICEF, November and December were a period where the foreign office and the defense ministry internally continued to work towards the path of signing the SSD, also as a follow-up on the technical expert discussion on the SSD in September 2017, which was hosted by Save Germany (organized by my predecessor Julia). 2. The most significant change in Germany has been a shift from opposition to the SSD to discussions on the lessons learnt of states that already signed the SSD to now seeing the prospect of Germany signing the SSD hopefully in the first half of 2018. While internal consultations and coordination on the legal issues between the ministries are ongoing, the path for a prompt signing of the SSD should be clear. It is however not clear at this point, how long the process of signing will take and on what level it will be decided given the current political situation. It is possible that the final decision will be left to a new government and foreign minister, which would push the signature further into 2018.

The advocacy work on the SSD was done in a group of several NGOs as well as UNICEF. The exchanges on the SSD with the German government have been on a private basis and the ministries have valued the informal and confidential character of exchanges, which proved to be fruitful in terms of fostering the debate. The ministries have also appreciated the informal format of the technical expert discussion, which brought together many relevant stakeholders from government as well civil society and also helped enhancing communication and coordination between the responsible units in the foreign office and the defense ministry. Furthermore, the ministries have shown great interest in the French signature of the SSD alongside an accompanying letter. The exchange between German ministries and the French and Canadian embassy have been important, as the ministries were very interested in French lessons learnt from signing the SSD. This is a viable option for Germany as well and it seems that defense ministry is working on the accompanying letter, which it hopefully drafts in the coming months – but having in mind the unclear political situation. The growing international pressure from a growing number of states signing the SSD also played a key role in pushing the Germans on this.”

February 2018: GCPEA provided background on Germany to Watchlist ahead of their participation in a workshop on children and armed conflict in Berlin. GCPEA liaised with the German Mission in Geneva to set up meetings during April with the Mission, and with MFA in Berlin.

April 2018: GCPEA met with the Mission of Germany in Geneva to provide an update and advocate for endorsement.GCPEA had a joint meeting with the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs in Berlin. During a long discussion of technical and legal aspects of the Declaration and Guidelines, it was apparent that the Ministry of Defense was maintaining its line that some of the language in the Guidelines was problematic, but that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was conscious of political considerations. GCPEA also met with Human Rights Watch and Save the Children to discuss strategy.

February 2018: In advance of OPAC turns 18 event, GCPEA issued letter highlighting that Germany has signed OPAC, Paris, and Vancouver, but not the Declaration,and calling for endorsement.

May 2018: Germany annouced the endorsement of the Declaration during the Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in the Sec. Council Chamber.

May 2018: During the UNSC open debate on protection of civilians, there was a particularly strong statement referencing the Declaration from Germany.

May 2018: GCPEA met with the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs in Berlin to advocate for endorsement of the Declaration. The Ministry of Defence raised many of the same questions concerning terminology in the Guidelines and their relationship with IHL, indicating that they continued to have concerns on legal implications. The Ministry of Foreign indicated that political considerations were also a factor and that it was more supportive of endorsement. During a debate with UN Security Council election candidates for the term 2019-20, organised by the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), Human Rights Watch asked the Ambassador of Germany the following question:Q: And for Germany, you’ve long been a leader on questions related to children and armed conflict and we hope you’ll continue that leadership if elected to the Council. But I note that Germany hasn’t signed the Safe Schools Declaration. Do you have plans to do so soon? If not, do you not worry that this could undermine Germany’s credibility on this extremely important issue? In his response, the Ambassador agreed that schools are key for children living in armed conflict and said the fact that they hadn’t signed was more a legal issue, rather than one of substance. He expressed optimism that there would be some positive news on that front soon. Save the Children New York tweeted to highlight the question posed by Human Rights Watch and the tweet was included in a summary of tweets related to the debate prepared by WFUNA.

July 2018: Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict. Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018). Germany also joined the statement of Canada on behalf of the GoF which mentioned the Safe Schools Declaration.

October 2018: During GCPEA briefing for GoF WPS, Germany asked about linking accountability for attacks on education and conflict-related sexual violence with the wider accountability discussion. UN WPS advocacy meeting: Gisela met with the Minister/Political Coordinator and the Second Secretary. Germany is prioritising women’s empowerment and education for women and girls in their engagement with G7 and the G20. They plan to host the open debate on women, peace and security during their Presidency of the Security Council in April 2019. They are open to ideas for their Security Council membership, but would focus on principles well established in IHL, e.g. medical facilities. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email.

February 2019: German parliamentarians have asked the government 20 questions related to implementation and support of Safe Schools Declaration, including Germany’s participation in the Third International Conference.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG Ms. Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva:referred to the right to education and access to education during armed conflict.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

June 2019: Bede wrote to the Deputy Head of Permanent Mission in New Zealand to update him on the developments around the Guidelines and to encourage Germany to adopt explicit protections for schools from military use, as Denmark and New Zealand.

June 2019: SRSG CAAC briefed Parliamentarians in Berlin on the Safe Schools Declaration and the outcomes of Palma conference. Germany is planning to hold a workshop on implementation of the Declaration with relevant Ministries in September this year.

October 2019: Nevena met with the Minister/Political Coordinator, with whom Gisela and Diya had been previously in touch. He shared that he had followed the endorsement process from early on and that he suspected that Human Rights Watch was not his biggest fan. I started the conversation by highlighting GCPEA’s findings of a decline of reported incidents of military use of schools and universities in several endorsing countries, and that we had not identified any reports of military use of schools by UN peacekeeping forces for the last two years. I also underlined that we advocate for the African Union to issue a ban on the military use of schools for its peacekeepers, similar to the DPKO ban. He really liked the idea of the AU ban and emphasized that its very relevant now that AU peacekeeping missions are constantly increasing. He was also interested to know how Germany can implement the Declaration, so I shared HRW report with examples of law, policies, and military doctrines to protect schools from military use. In particular, I highlighted the examples of Denmark, New Zealand, UK, and Switzerland, which might be an inspiration for Germany to similarly adopt explicit protections for schools from military use. He was interested in the examples from NATO countries and said he would pass the information on to his Ministry of Defense. We also discussed the upcoming UN SC WPS debate, and I encouraged them to highlight the Safe Schools Declaration as a tool to accelerate implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. He assured me that Germany is prioritising women’s education, and found very compelling the link of education as a fundamental component to ensure that women are empowered. He advised that Germany views the sexual violence in conflict (SVC) component separately from the WPS debate, so he promised to raise the issues of sexual violence at schools during next year’s UN SC debate on SVC. He was a bit cautious about the argument that the UN monitoring and reporting mechanisms should disaggregate data by location due to confidentiality issues. I explained that the UN has strict guidelines for maintaining confidentiality. He pledged to try to include some of our key messages in their statement to the Council. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister, gender recommendations, factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration, and examples of implementation of the Guidelines.

February 2020: During the high-level briefing on “Integrating child protection into peace processes to resolve conflict and sustain peace”, Ambassador Schulz (Germany) urged all States to sign on to the Safe Schools Declaration.

September 2020: statement Niger’s CAAC briefing on attacks on schools: The Safe Schools Declaration is crucial. We encourage all those who have not yet done so to endorse the Declaration and, more importantly, to implement it.

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

December 2021: Positive statement at the Arria meeting on the protection of education during armed conflict citing SSD. “Out-of-school children have faced increased vulnerability to grave violations, including recruitment and misuse by parties to conflict. Furthermore, schools have become easier targets for use of military action. Germany strongly condemns these violations of international law as well as the continued widespread military use of schools in armed conflict.”; “Echoing the recently adopted Security Council resolution 2601, we call on all parties to armed conflict to immediately cease attacks and threats of attacks that are in contravention of international humanitarian law against schools and civilians connected with schools, including children and teachers.”; “Germany has endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration and calls on States, which have not done so yet, to join this important Declaration. Germany also gladly participated in the Safe Schools Declaration conference in Abuja last October, which aimed at accelerating the implementation of humanitarian law principles into tangible achievements. International humanitarian law has to be further promoted and implemented and, very importantly, violations need to be accounted for; only then can the principles of the Safe Schools Declaration be best ensured in practice.”
April 2022: Education Cannot Wait launches the “Call to action to Empower Her’ – cosigned by Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.https://www.educationcannotwait.org/call-to-action-empower-her/

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : – We encourage all states to endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration

September 2022: Endorsed the Call to Action on Education in crisis situations (refers to EuA22 data) at the Transforming Education Summit

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.

November 2022: On 6 December, Nevena met with Ms. Dorothée Ulrike Schwill, First Secretary (Development Cooperation), and Ms. Louisa Hall, Second Secretary (Political Affairs) – following Germany’s recent election to the HRC. The purpose of the meeting was to encourage them to implement the SSD, and to help us mainstream the protection of education agenda and the SSD further into the human rights mechanisms. During the meeting, Nevena advised them on steps to implement the Guidelines as a way to operationalise the UN Security Council Resolution 2601 on protecting education in conflict, co-sponsored by Germany. She asked them to nominate focal points from their Ministries to join the Implementation Network. They highlighted that Germany is the biggest donor of ECW, and their role as a co-host of ECW replenishment conference. Nevena mentioned that it will be interesting to see if there are any synergies between the Implementation Network activities and the countries where the German Corporation for International Cooperation is supporting education programmes. Germany co-chairs (together with Slovenia) the Group of Friends on Child Rights in Geneva, and measures taken to safeguard children’s right to education.