Norway

Present in Lucens.

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway + hosted the first int conference on SSD in Oslo in 2015

March 2017: Provided sponsorship for Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. The Ambassadors of Argentina and Norway to the UN in Geneva hosted an information session for all Member States on 16 March to encourage participation in the Buenos Aires Conference and endorsement and implementation of the SSD. Norway’s Vice Minister on Foreign Affairs, Ms. Laila Bokhari, hosted a lunch in the margins of the conference, which was attended by representatives of Algeria, Belgium, Colombia, France, Guatemala, Peru, and Save the Children Norway. The MUWG chair (Human Rights Watch) was invited to provide an update on implementation of the SSD and Guidelines.

April 2017: Hosted post-conference briefing for Missions in New York.

May 2017: The Ambassador of Norway in Geneva hosted a lunch on the second anniversary of the Safe Schools Declaration for several of the Core Group states. The lunch was attended by the ambassadors of Luxembourg, New Zealand, and Jordan, and experts from Ecuador, Spain, Austria, and Kenya. GCPEA provided information on implementation of the Declaration, and Save the Children (Anita) provided input on future work. Norway highlighted the regions where they would like to see more endorsements – Asia, Balkans, South America, and the Caribbean – and called on the states present to carry out peer advocacy. The states present were open to continuing regular Core Group meetings. They also provided input on how the Declaration can be further progressed. Suggestions included regular briefings for non-endorsing states, side events, continuing to highlight the Declaration in national statements in relevant fora, repetition of the ‘joint statement by endorsing states’ model that was used at the Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue on CAAC in other fora, such as the ECOSOC humanitarian affairs segment, introducing language on the SSD into HRC resolutions, use of the UPR mechanism to recommend endorsement/implementation, outreach to the Friends of the ICC group to develop work on accountability, alignment with the SDGs agenda, forming a Group of Friends on CAAC in Addis Ababa.

June 2017: Save the Children Addis secured the agreement of the Embassy of Norway in Addis to support a two-year project on advocacy for endorsement and implementation of the Declaration at the African Union. The proposal, currently being drafted, will include multi-level engagements aimed at securing additional endorsements of the Declaration. The project will also promote engagement at the country, regional and AU level on implementation and reporting on the Guidelines.

August 2017: Norway is interested in having a joint statement by all endorsing states. Gisela advised that it would be good to start the process early to allow time to seek sign-on by all endorsing states. GCPEA/Human Rights Watch provided a briefing to Missions in New York on the outcomes of the Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. The briefing was hosted by Argentina and Norway, and attended by representatives of 32 states (13 non-endorsing) plus the European Union. The Ambassadors of Argentina and Norway and a representative of ICRC also spoke.

June 2017: Norway’s Vice Foreign Minister, Laila Bokhari, hosted a lunch for ambassadors in Oslo to mark the second anniversary of the Declaration. The lunch was attended by 16 non-endorsing states and 12 endorsing states. 12 ambassadors were in attendance, 7 from non-endorsing states. The non-endorsing states in attendance were (ambassadors in green): Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Cuba, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Tunisia, and Venezuela. Norway’s Vice Foreign Minister, Laila Bokhari, attended the UNGA High Level Event on Education in New York, where she highlighted the Declaration during her interventions, and held bilateral meetings with the Ministers of several states to advocate for endorsement. Austria, Canada, France, and Spain have each committed to carry out peer advocacy to encourage additional states to endorse. Save the Children Norway published a guidance for implementation of the Schools as Zones of Peace project, which includes advice for implementation of the Declaration. The project aims to link the global work done on protecting education from attack to what happens at school level in affected countries. In the project, Save works with children, school management and local communities, and work to influence local, national and global policies. Locally, the project aims to secure protective learning environments in conflict and post-conflict situations, raise awareness among communities, school management and children, and build local and national level engagement to protect education. This includes using participatory tools and methods to engage children. This is a way to implement the Declaration through a bottom-up approach by engaging local schools and communities. This project links child protection and education across the interventions.

September 2017: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict. Norway co-hosted with Liberia and Argentina an high level dialogue and AU Liaison office in Addi Abeba organized by Save the Children Pan Africa with the aim to galvanize support for the protection of education from attacks and military use and to promote the implementation of the Declaration and the Guidelines. Norway made a statement during the event.

October 2017: It was decided that GCPEA should visit Oslo, perhaps in early 2018, to meet with the focal point in the Norway MFA and Save the Children Norway. Vero and Gisela to liaise on a possible visit to Oslo in January. Vero to consult with Save Norway. Gisela to check when Kjersti will be back in her role at the Norway MFA.

February 2018: GCPEA met with the Norway MFA in Geneva, together with Save the Children Geneva, to share updates and discuss plans for 2018. Norway MFA has agreed to co-host a number of events in the coming months – launches of Education Under Attack 2018 in Paris and New York, and celebrations of the third anniversary of the Declaration in Geneva and Oslo.

March 2018: During the Annual Day on the Rights of the Child, 5 March: Norway delivered a joint statement on behalf of more than 50 endorsing states.

March 2018: Norway proposed references to the Declaration in operative and preambular paragraphs of Resolution A/HRC/37/L.33.

April 2018: The Mission of Norway in Geneva hosted a meeting of the Core Group on Safe Schools, which was attended by Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay, and GCPEA.

May 2018: strong statement made referencing the Safe Schools Declaration during the Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in the Sec. Council Chamber.

May 2018: The Ambassador of Norway in Geneva, together with the New Ambassador of Argentina, hosted a reception at Palais des Nations for the third anniversary of the Safe Schools Declaration. the reception was attended by Albania, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Slovakia, South Sudan, Spain, Switzerland, and Uganda. In addition, there were: Article 36, ICRC, Defence for Children International, the Global Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, and members of the GCPEA Steering Committee: Cara, Human Rights Watch, PEIC/EAA, Save the Children, and Cara, UNESCO, UNHCR, and UNICEF.

June 2018: Zama asked Norway in New York to speak to Macedonia regarding the SSD.

June 2018: Gisela met with Mr. Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, Counsellor for Legal Affairs. It was a quick but productive meeting. I raised the suggestion of a joint démarche with Argentina and he was supportive. He agreed that the current momentum, together with the upcoming Spain conference, were good reasons to spend the political capital. He asked me to share the idea in writing so that he could send it to capital as a request by a civil society organisation with a “special position” in Oslo. I followed up on this and he responded to say that Oslo are looking favourably on the suggestion. It is proposed that the démarche could by issued in autumn once the dates for the Spain conference have been confirmed. He was also supportive of the idea of issuing a questionnaire on implementation ahead of the conference, framing it as an opportunity for states to share the positive steps they have been taking. He was excited about the interest expressed by Kazakhstan in hosting the next conference. He pledged to reach out to Australia to encourage endorsement and answer any questions they have.

July 2018: UNSC Open Debate on Children and armed conflict: 1) Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict. 2) Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018). 3) Mentioned and welcomed the Safe Schools Declaration during the statement to the SC on behalf of the Nordic states. 4) also joined the statement of Canada on behalf of the GoF which mentioned the Safe Schools Declaration.

September 2018: the Mission of Norway met with the Mission of the UK yesterday and raised their plans on implementation of the Declaration.

September 2018: Norway embassies in Kyiv and Manila are following up on the issues of the endorsement letter. Gisela sent to Hana from the Norway mission in Geneva our contacts in Peru.

October 2018: UN WPS advocacy in New York: Gisela met with Therese, Andreas’ replacement to give her a briefing. Gisela highlighted the need for Norway to use its political currency at this juncture, ahead of the Spain conference, to keep momentum going on endorsements. Gisela mentioned the credibility this would offer for their UN Security Council candidature and offered to share background on engagement with certain targets for her Ambassador to follow up, which she welcomed. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email. Gisela will share priorities for peer advocacy.

November 2018: Norway has strongly advocated for a reference to the SSD in theUNGA rights of the child resolution.

March 2019: co-sponsored GCPEA side-event “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva. During interventions from the floor, the Deputy Ambassador of Norway encouraged endorsement and implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, and participation in the Spain conference.

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

June 2019: Bede followed up with Camilla G. Cooper, Associate professor operational law Norway, on the update of their military manual to include explicit protections for schools from military use during armed conflict. She responded that the LOAC manual is on hold for the moment, and she had already made notes to ensure that the safe school declaration is reflected in the relevant chapter.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

January 2020: The Ambassador of Norway in Geneva, together with the Ambassador of Spain, hosted a reception at the Norwegian residence to mark the 101 endorsements of the Safe Schools Declaration. In his remarks, the Norwegian Ambassador Brattskar commended civil society organisations– in particular GCPEA, which has played a leading role – for the support and work over many years to highlight this issue of attacks on education and to promote the Safe Schools Declaration. The Spanish Ambassador highlighted the success of the third international conference, and announced their intention to organize a side event on the margins of the Human Rights Council session in June to present the conclusions from the conference. Director of Save the Children Geneva Advocacy Office highlighted the Coalition’s key role in the development of the Guidelines and in the promotion of the Safe Schools Declaration. He emphasized how GCPEA research on attacks on education had cultivated public support for safe education and had drawn global attention to the issue of military use of schools. During his remarks, he underscored that true partnership with the champion states (Norway, Argentina, and Spain) was the key for success and that the Coalition stands ready to support them in their initiatives on peer-to-peer exchange in implementing the Declaration.

January 2020: Human Rights Watch made a submission to the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDW) regarding Afghanistan. It includes a suggestion that the Committee congratulates Afghanistan for endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration, and a number of recommendations on how to make schools safer.

August 2020:GCPEA revised the input to the state-led implementation concept note which was requested by the Norway MFA.

September 2020: GCPEA and Save the Children Geneva met with the first Secretary and Counsellor at the Mission of Norway in Geneva. GCPEA briefed the new officials on developments on advocacy for endorsement and implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, including in relation to the International Day to Protect Education from Attack and the implementation network.

Oct 2020: GCPEA (Nevena and Yatasha) met with the Mission of Norway in Geneva to discuss the recent work of GCPEA and furthering the implementation network.

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601 – which they led with Niger.

December 2021: Norway co-hosted an Arria formula meeting on the protection of education during armed conflict with Niger. HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway spoke at the meeting. He highlighted access to quality education, particularly during conflict, as a fundamental right and the responsibility of states. Highlighted the protective quality of schools and the important role this plays in building future societies. Emphasized UNSCR 2601 as a landmark resolution, which does three important things: “It highlights the invaluable role that education plays for peace and security. It calls upon Member States to protect schools and education facilities from attacks. And it urges all parties to fulfil their obligation to facilitate the continuation of education during conflict.” Adding that the resolution “recognises the need for concrete measures to mitigate the negative consequences caused by the military use of schools. It places an important emphasis on the gendered impact of attacks on education and recognizes the vulnerability of children with disabilities.” Highlighted the Abuja Conference and the Safe Schools Declaration’s role to prevent attacks, to prevent military use, and to ensure the continuation of education in conflict.

January 2022: On 25/01, GCPEA met with representatives from the Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva (Christian and Ingrid) to discuss priorities in 2022 on the protection of education agenda and upcoming opportunities for collaboration. We spoke about the UNSC POC debate hosted by Norway on urban warfare and GCPEA’s recommendations, as well as the Senior Officials Meeting on the Situation in the Central Sahel and GCPEA’s briefing and recommendations. Moreover, we agreed to have a Core Group meeting in February to discuss the Human Rights Council and other priorities. We discussed plans for the Geneva workshop, as a follow up to the 25 October event. We agreed to postpone for the moment until in-person events are allowed again but Norway reiterated their support in co-hosting with GCPEA. We also discussed the launch of Education under Attack 2022 and possible plans for the launch in Geneva, New-York, and/or virtually. Norway has expressed interest in co-hosting the event with GCPEA, as in previous years. Lastly, Norway agreed to host two lunches at PR level with key countries that have co-sponsored UNSCR 2601 (2021) but have not yet endorsed the Declaration (Australia, Rwanda, Gabon, Guinea, Tunisia) as well as conduct peer-to-peer advocacy, also at PR level, through bilateral meetings (Japan, Mongolia, Indonesia, UAE, Singapore, Lithuania). GCPEA provided the necessary background information through a briefing to support and will attend as expert the lunch.

February 2022: Norway PM in Geneva hosted two lunches at PR level with key non endorsing states (Japan and Tunisia, and Gabon Rwanda and Lesotho).

March 2022: Ukraine humanitarian briefing to UNSC 7 March: Norway highlighted preventing attacks on education (in line with UNSCR2601.)

April 2022: HRC Special session on Ukraine “- Need to stop attacks on civilian infrastructures including schools ” + referred to the SSD

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : – “Secondly, as we know, prevention is better than cure. We must take concrete measures to prevent violations and abuses against children. We call on all parties to conflict to sign and implement action plans with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and on Member States to endorse and implement the Paris Principles and the Vancouver Principles as well as the Safe School Declaration. Effective implementation of resolution 2601 (2021) is also key.”

September 2022 Transforming Education Summit: Norway: “Central Priority areas are education in emergencies and conflict situations, girls’ education, […] Norway underlines that the right to education must be upheld in conflicts and emergencies. We call for the implementation of Security Council resolution 2601 and the Safe Schools declaration to protect educational institutions from attack and military use.”

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

October 2022: On 5 October, Apolline and Nevena met with Christian, Ingrid, and Cathrina from the PM of Norway in Geneva and MFA Oslo (as well as Ainhoa from the Spanish mission) to discuss the Malaysia conference (to take place Q4 2023 TBC), the joint-demarche with UNSCR2601 co-sponsors, and the one-year anniversary of resolution 2601.
Malaysia conference:
Norway had a virtual meeting with the Malaysian MoE and a focal point at the Geneva Mission. It seems that the Malaysian MoE is quite unprepared and unfamiliar with the SSD and thought the conference could focus on the broader violence at school agenda. We discussed that we should ensure that both MoFA and MoD are fully involved in the conference and aware of their respective roles. Cathrina wants Malaysia to take ownership and to choose the topics they feel particularly strong on. In her opinion, the conference can include the topics of peacekeeping and protecting education (Malaysia has a centre of excellence for peacekeeping training); civilian defence mechanisms (the fact that many Asian countries use schools for defence purposes); the new comprehensive school safety framework or how to integrate the SSD within the national frameworks that will be developed In terms of dates, Norway feels strongly that we should do the conference in Q4 2023 and not postpone it to 2024.
Action points: expert level meeting in Geneva with the champions, GCPEA, and Malaysia in October to establish way forward and focal points; PR level lunch with the champions and Malaysia in November to highlight that this is a collaborative endeavour where all the co-hosts work together; technical briefing with the ministries in Malaysia (MFA, MoE, and MoD) in December, where GCPEA will brief them on the SSD, share good practices, and present some of the issues on which Malaysia could lead and focus on for this conference; Norway agrees that it will be important to have a coordinator in capital (like Abiola in Nigeria) to support the organisation of the conference. They asked GCPEA to identify as soon as possible a suitable person based in Kuala Lumpur.

November 2022: Update from Save Norway: the manual is now at the ministry for approval and still waiting for the approval. Save recently sent a letter to the Minister and Chief of Defense and asked for a status update. in the letter they also made reference to the training of ukrainian armed forces and the need for SSD to be included and the new IHL manual to be approved and rolled out

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.

August 2023: On 28 August, Apolline met with Mr. Fredrik Laache, delegate on disarmament at the Norwegian mission in Geneva and the new focal point on the SSD. The aim of the meeting was to introduce myself, the work of GCPEA and the longstanding relationship with Norway, the work of the champion states and the core group, and upcoming priorities. Fredrik is fully briefed on the Fifth International Conference and exchanges with Jordan. There are no new updates, but he is actively following up on this issue and promised to keep me updated. We also discussed the Sahel workshop, the next core group meeting, key target countries, and following up with Sri Lanka on endorsement. Lastly, we had an exciting discussion on SSD implementation and the need to get more states to take concrete actions on this – I mentioned building up on the NATO CAAC Policy, which he seemed interested in as well as the idea of incorporating this as an indicator in the SSD Pledge we will be presenting at the next ICRC International Conference in October 2024.