United Kingdom

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway.

February 2016 UNICEF UK: has launched a “Keep Schools Safe” campaign, urging the UK government to join the SSD. UNICEF-UK also organized an event on protection of CAAC at the UK Parliament on February 8, where Leila Zerrougui and Steven Haines spoke. The event and the issue has been receiving great media coverage (see links below).

July 2016, the UK army released a new doctrine note on Human Security, which included several paragraphs that suggest that the army’s position is quite close to that of the Guidelines. Relevant sections: It says that UN Resolution 1998 “declares schools … off limits for both armed groups and military activities.” It states that “schools and other educational establishments must be permitted to continue their ordinary activities. Any occupying power must, with the cooperation of the national and local education authorities, facilitate the proper working of schools and other institutions devoted to the care of children. In certain circumstances an occupying power may be within its rights in temporarily closing education institutions, but only when there are very strong reasons for doing so, these reasons are made public, and there is serious prospect that the closure will achieve important and worthwhile results.” And it further states that “Attacks on schools are prohibited unless they are being used for military purposes and even then considerable care should be taken.”

April 2017: Human Rights Watch wrote to all UK political parties to urge them to make concrete commitments to human rights in their election manifestos and in other public statements throughout the election campaign, and included a question on the SSD. 

May 2017: Save the Children UK met with the new Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, to brief her on the Safe Schools Declaration process and request her support. Human Rights Watch (Bede) delivered a lecture on the Declaration at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights of Cambridge University.

June 2017: Human Rights Watch issued a letter to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and a separate letter to the Foreign Minister, encouraging endorsement.

July 2017: Save the Children UK organised a meeting with participation from Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, and Steven Haines to discuss a strategy for advocacy towards the United Kingdom government for endorsement of the Declaration. Save the Children UK organised a meeting with participation from Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, and Steven Haines to discuss a strategy for advocacy towards the United Kingdom government for endorsement of 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 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 UK met with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York to discuss implementation of the new DPKO-DPA-DFS child protection policy. Human Rights Watch will launch a campaign in the United Kingdom to coincide with the return to school. The video previously used to target France has been repurposed, and a range of other social media materials have been prepared. A petition to the Minister of Defense will send emails directly to his inbox. An op ed is planned in October. Save the Children UK’s Government Relations Team continues to hold regular meetings with the FCO, and has begun to integrate some key recommendations related to attacks on education in their regular working level meetings with the FCO. Save the Children UK plans to hold a meeting in September with Corinne Kitsell, Head of Conflict Department to raise the Declaration and other recommendations relating to attacks on education. Save the Children UK’s Campaigns Team is exploring the idea of a campaign in UK schools, with students and teachers asking for the UK to join the Declaration.

September 2017: Save the Children shared the news that the Global Campaign for Education’s UK campaign – Send my Friend to School – will focus on the Safe School Declaration in 2018.  This will involve advocacy by schools towards MPs with a big parliamentary event.  September 2017: HRW launched a campaign  in the UK to coincide with the return to school. The video previously used to target France has been repurposed, and a range of other social media materials have been prepared. A petition to the Minister of Defense sent emails directly to his inbox. An op ed is planned in October. Save UK’s Governement Relation Team continues to hold regular meetings with the FCO, and has begun to integrate some key recommendations related attacks on education in their regular working level meetings with the FCO. Save UK plans to hols a meeting in September with Corinne Kitsell, Head of Conflict Department to raise the Declaration and other recommendations relating to attacks on education. Save the Children UK participated in a seminar on Law, Education and the Protection of the SDGs at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, hosted in partnership with EEA/PEIC, and presented the work of GCPEA and the Safe Schools Declaration. Norway’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Laila Bokhari, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Forest Whitaker, both highlighted the Declaration in their interventions. PEIC is working with Forest Whitaker’s Peace and Development Initiative in South Sudan and Northern Uganda on a program that enlists youth leaders in advocacy for schools to develop safety and security plans for schools, together with planning conflict resolution trainings for schools to help build more inclusive and peaceful societies. He has used the Declaration as a tool to support his advocacy efforts.

September 2017:  Human Rights Watch launched an extensive digital campaign targeting the UK. The government is currently reviewing whether to endorse and the campaign is designed to put extra pressure on Defence Minister Michael Fallon. MUWG members are asked to please amplify the campaign in media and social media, tagging @DefenceHQ. Photos and video attached. You may like to retweet Ziauddin Yousafzai (father of Malala) who tweeted the campaign link here. Plan International UK has been in contact with Human Rights Watch to discuss options for supporting the campaign. After endorsement by France and Canada in February 2017 (during the Ministerial Meeting in Paris), the FCO conducted a review of their position and concluded that they were supportive. Minister of Defence is the one who needs convincing. Lee Davis has shared Prof Steven Haines’s contact information to the MOD- no response yet.  Time line is 2 months for civil society to pressure MOD (see HRW campaign). If no agreement is reached, the Secretary of State for International Development and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will write to the Secretary of State for Defense. To be followed. FCO finds it diplomatically embarrassing and do not want to be joining after Germany and Australia. Wanted some up-date on where things were in the Germany discussions. Sent them the up-date and suggested get in touch with Emeline in French MoFA. Highlighted the UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial conference on November 14-15, 2017 in Vancouver. The conference will be attended by both the Defense Secretary and Vice-Defense Secretary. Possible opportunity for influencing by Canada on the UK, if not for endorsement. I will ask Dallaire to talk to Canada MoD, and HRW please reinforce with Canada. Recommended we meet with the Vice-Defence Secretary, General Messenger as he is sympathetic towards human rights and was indeed very helpful on PSVI. Trying to get a meeting. The Foreign secretary is interested by the issue of girls’ education and will start a campaign on that issue, amplifying what DFID is doing in the field. Mentioned the GCPEA gender analysis of attacks on education and should capitalise on their interest on this and send the study when ready. Save the Children UK met with Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, FCO, to discuss prevention of sexual violence, and raised the Declaration in this context, in light of Lord Ahmad’s response to a parliamentary question on the Declaration in Plan International UK has been in contact with Human Rights Watch to discuss options for supporting the campaign. Save the Children UK organized a meeting in October with UNICEF UK, Human Rights Watch, Steven Haines, and Stephen Wordsworth to coordinate advocacy. Save the Children UK and Human Rights Watch UK issued a joint letter to the General Messenger of the Ministry of Defence seeking a meeting to discuss endorsement of the Declaration. Save the Children shared the news that the Global Campaign for Education’s UK campaign – Send my Friend to School – will focus on the Safe School Declaration in 2018. This will involve advocacy by schools towards MPs with a high-profile parliamentary event. Canada and France are conducting peer advocacy, following encouragement from Save the Children UK and the Dallaire Initiative. October 2017: Human Rights Watch UK issued a dispatch on how Malala’s courage should inspire the UK to endorse. November 2017: Meeting scheduled with MoD in December. December 2017: Meeting report: Attending from NGOs – James (Save) Steven H (Greenwich University) David M & Step H (HRW); Attending from FCO – Lee (Conflict Team) Fern Horaine (Gender Equality Unit); Attending from MoD – Kitty Jenkins (Operations Directorate) Robert Kilchen (Arms Control Conventions) Tabatha Bay (Legal Team) Ian ? (Targeting Team). HRW kicked things off with a briefing of where we are now / Steven gave a history of the campaign (referencing the history of MoD ‘veto’) he flagged previous concern with the initiative being given a human rights label – reminded the room that they are ‘soft law guidelines’ and complement IHL and very much live in the LOAC. Save then focused on it being a state-led initiative / the wider benefits of better Civ-Mil coordination / the need for UK leadership / the quotes from the French lawyer from Geneva / a flag that a letter from Kevin to the SoS will be going out soon calling for the UK to endorse and potential for future campaigning in 2018 / I handed out some printed copies of the toolkit for implementation. The MoD responded that they are: -Considering it under constant review -Are keen to learn more about examples of success of the SSD -If there are no IHL obligations – why endorse it? (Steven gave good answer to this) -Proposed a hypothetical – what if UK endorsed and then we targeted a school that had been taken over by ISIS – would NGOs shout at us? (we said no) -Ian spoke about how their ‘no strike list’ and IHL obligations meant they were protecting education in war – in general he said he was ‘in violent agreement’ with the aims of the SSD -Tabitha spoke about how the UK signing the SSD is not just an issue of IHL – it’s how it interfaces with HR Law around things like Right to Education. She spoke about how the UK has operational and legal risks that are ‘unique’ to us as a country in terms of levels of scrutiny. In particular G/L number four refers to ‘feasible alternatives’ as opposed to IHL stating ‘feasible precaution’ – there is a slight difference which all feeds into their risk analysis. -Concern that if the UK was taken to court their endorsement of the SSD could be used as ‘an interpretive guide’. ‘We need to work that through and are regularly talking about it’ – need to have further conversations between FCO and DFID. UK takes things they sign up to very seriously – hence being very deliberate about singing. Signing could also mean more ‘administrative responsibilities’ for the UK – e.g more CAAC reporting. In terms of timetabling next steps – MoD think ‘bulk of issues are with DFID and FCO’. -Note that in upcoming PQs the FCO position will remain opposed to UK endorsing (they can’t decide unilaterally need MoD/DFID support) -There is a bandwidth challenge for HMG to deal with this -New SoS at the MoD is ‘being read in’ and not yet aware of this issue.

December 2017: Letter from UK government – FCO Minister for Human Rights – saying “The UK government is considering and assessing next steps”.

January 2018: Jo Becker HRW spoke with I spoke with both General Dallaire and Shelly about whether they could work some of their “magic” with the UK on the SSD. Shelly says that at the Vancouver Defense Ministerial, General Vance (chief of the defense staffs) raised the issue with his UK counterpart, and says Vance is an ally. Now that the UK has endorsed the Vancouver Principles, that can be used as leverage to push them to endorse the SSD as well. Unfortunately,  the minister of defense didn’t attend, since the meeting was right after the old minister resigned because of the revelations re sexual harassment. Shelly and Gen Dallaire will be going to the UK near the end of March for meetings around a new initiative re British soldiers, child soldiers, and PTSD. It sounds like she would be happy to try to set up a meeting then.

January 2018: Bede met with Tabitha Bonney, a (civilian) senior lawyer at the MoD, who seems to be in charge of children’s issue for the MoD as of about the last year. She said that when she learned that the UK had not endorsed the Declaration she was surprised and couldn’t really understand why. She said she started with a legal review of the text, and decided that it went beyond existing international law, but realized it wasn’t legally binding etc., and said that she liked that it actually helped address an interesting question about the interaction of IHL and children’s rights law(!! “I’m surprised how often people forget about the CRC as if it’s not also an international obligation.”). Also, she felt the Declaration generally aligned with existing UK policies. She also said she was impressed by the clear deliberate thought and process that had gone into the process (contrasting, for example, with that behind the Vancouver Principles!) She then organized a full targeting assessment to work out what the operational consequences would be for the UK armed forces, and received the response that it would be minimal to none. She said that the next concern raised was whether there could be negative reputation consequences for the UK, in the event that the UK were somehow to be accused of not following the declaration or the guidelines. To which her response was: well, look at the negative reputation consequences of the UK being perceived as being not supportive of safe schools! (Smart woman, this one.) The final concern raised was whether there would be positive obligations placed on the armed forces that would have financial implications. The example was raised was whether there would be positive obligations on the UK armed forces to document attacks on schools that they encounter or something, or whether they might be obliged to deviate operations in order to respond to attacks or to do such documentation. To which her assessment was that if there were any such financial implications, they would instead be borne by the FCO and DFID. She said therefore that she was willing to give a sign-off from the legal perspective. She made a number of cautions: she still hasn’t completely finalized the memo, and there’s a new minister whose final decision it would be, and he is still getting read in to his new brief, and this was unlikely to be a priority. Moreover, she cautioned that the final decision and implementation will need to come from FCO. And she advised some communication to the FCO that the administrative costs for them would be minimal–because she seemed to voice concern that perhaps although the FCO and DFID have to date seemed open, when it comes back to them with sign off from the MoD they might start paying more attention to the details. I expressed excitement, gratitude, etc. I shared the basics of the Send My Friend to School campaign, presenting it very much as both an exciting initiative for the kids involved, and presenting it as an opportunity for the MoD to in fact benefit more in the “reputational consequences” perspective, by being seen to respond to students’ interest if the government joined on. She was intrigued by the campaign, and shared that she hoped it would broadly be directed at FCO, DFID, and MoD, and not just at the MoD. She suggested that maybe packets of letters or whatever could come at one time to the ministry, rather than to MPs. Knowing that the campaign intends to target MPs too, I explained the benefit of such an approach for the learning of the students. (“Everyone should learn that they can ask their MP for help, etc…”) She noted that there have been several letters from MPs in the past to the ministry and even a question in the house, and that really hadn’t done anything. But agreed, yes, everyone should feel free to approach their MPs. She said the policy person who would be the right contact for the campaign is changing this week or next, so couldn’t give a name right now. But we both agreed on the possibilities to make this a positive reputational interaction for the ministry, etc., if they do indeed decide to support endorsement and the endorsement goes ahead. I should mention that she kept on stressing to me that this was a “lawyer to lawyer quiet conversation,” which was to me a unique way to imply this was not official, final, nor public, etc… January 2017: STC-UK Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Kirsty McNeil met today with Lord Ahmad who was positive about the UK endorsement of the SSD, and confirmed what Rosy Cave, Head of the PSVI office, told me during the reception at the UK NAP last week. This is the note: Lord Ahmad: said it is about when not if. He is reviewing all the documentation this weekend and thinks Mark Lancaster is happy. His view is: ‘you’ve done enough, it is happening now’. Would be worth following up with officials to check whether this is their view… pretty big if so.

January 2018: Human Rights Watch (Bede) met with a senior lawyer at the Ministry of Defence with responsibility for children’s issues, who advised that she had carried out a legal review and a full targeting assessment of the Guidelines, and believed that the Declaration was generally aligned with existing UK policies. Concerns about potential reputational damage and budgetary implications were also discussed. The lawyer advised that she would be submitting a memo to the Minister of Defence for his consideration. Save the Children UK’s Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns met with Lord Ahmad, Foreign Commonwealth Office, who indicated that the UK will endorse the Declaration. Save the Children UK continues to encourage France to influence the UK for them to join the Declaration.  Save the Children UK met with the FCO conflict team who confirmed that the FCO would be interesting in influencing the Commonwealth countries. Save the Children UK, as co-chair of the Send My Friends to School campaign, is implementing the coalition strategy and campaign for the UK to endorse the Declaration and then, to influence Commonwealth members to endorse as well.  If UK endorses, in light of Brexit, the UK is interested in playing a leadership role in the Commonwealth.

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

May 2018: During the Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in the Sec. Council Chamber, UK made statement, including the following: “The UK has recently endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, and in line with this, and international humanitarian law, we will continue to take all feasible measures to ensure the protection of schools, their teachers, and students – including particularly girls, whose access to education is disproportionately affected by attacks. And we urge others, likewise, to endorse the Declaration and take such action.” Link to the article: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/acting-within-the-core-security-council-mandate-to-protect-civilian-populations-affected-by-conflict

May 2018: Amy and Vero met with the UK government who were very interested to hear about our suggestions on how they can support the promotion and implementation of the SSD. They were also fascinated by Amy’s presentation on the EUA’s findings.  They asked for examples of provision of assistance that is delivered post air strike/bombing of schools/Universities. They wanted to know what does this look like on the ground and what sort of efforts are other signatories making? Would France or other countries have any case studies to lift from ? They are putting a note to DFID, MOD and FCO ministers jointly on SSD implementation and are looking at ideas to inform that.

June 2018: Vero met with FCO and DFID representatives. The UK is meeting with Japan and Australia in Bueno Aires during the G20 and will put a request. They also took good notes on our efforts with Ukraine. ICRC: presented our collaboration with them. As Geoff Leone is meeting next week, Vero has asked Filipa to get him to express positive feedback on the SSD, GCPEA. The rep asked they put a good word for us with their WPS contacts and SRSG SV: they offered to provide advise on how best to build these relationship -They are very keen to co-host the launch of the Nigeria report with Norway. If not Boris, it will be Joanna Roper. DFID was really keen what they could be doing to protect education from a humanitarian response point of view and they seemed interested to fund a case study and asked how much would cost. We need to regroup and reflect how we approach them on funding. Ideally we ask Cristal ‘s what our best strategy could be.

March 2018: The Permanent Missions of the United Kingdom, together with ICTJ, co-hosted a side event on the impact of attacks on schools in Syria and ensuring accountability. The UK Ambassador provided opening remarks. Send My Friend to School , co-chaired by Save the Children UK, launched a largescale campaign, Make Schools Safe. 889 schools have joined the campaign and there has been a lot of activity on Twitter. A policy report outlines the need to protect students and teachers from harm and calls on the UK to endorse the Declaration. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Education hosted a parliamentary event, together with Send My Friend to School, on 20 March. At the event, parliamentarians and civil society demonstrated strong support for the Declaration. The campaign has said that signing the Declaration at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on 17 April would further showcase the UK’s leadership on global education and bolster DfID’s commitment to supporting education in emergencies. The campaign champions, 25 young people from across the UK, released a statement. There are several  gifs highlighting endorsements by Commonwealth countries and calling on the UK to join them, which are available for download here and here. On 29 March, there was a Westminster Hall debate on education in international development, during which the Secretary of State for DFiD commended Send My Friend to School for raising awareness and said:  “We very much welcome the spirit of the Safe Schools Declaration, and we have been considering the concerns that exist about some of the accompanying guidelines for protecting schools and universities from military use during *armed conflict*. Those guidelines do not mirror the language of international humanitarian law, so we have been meeting the relevant civil society organizations to explore our concerns and to try to find a way forward. We are considering our next steps on that.”

May 2018: The UK’s statement included the following: “The UK has recently endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, and in line with this, and international humanitarian law, we will continue to take all feasible measures to ensure the protection of schools, their teachers, and students – including particularly girls, whose access to education is disproportionately affected by attacks. And we urge others, likewise, to endorse the Declaration and take such action.” The UK Mission also held a media stakeout ahead of the debate, during which the Deputy Ambassador highlighted the government’s endorsement of the Declaration and urged other states to join.

May 2018: GCPEA prepared a concept note on opportunities for the United Kingdom to implement the Declaration. GCPEA (Vero and Amy) met with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to share the concept note and present the findings of Education Under Attack 2018. For peer advocacy, the government has been asked to prioritise members of the Commonwealth, with a focus on Australia and Cameroon, as well as Japan. Send My Friend to Schools hosted an event on the Declaration at the National Education Union with Steven Haines providing a background on the development of the Guidelines and GCPEA (Amy) sharing the findings of Education Under Attack 2018.

June 2018: Teresa May spoke about the Safe Schools Declaration on the floor of the House of Commons in response to a question from an MP asking “what action the UK will be taking to ensure the SSD makes a real difference to children who otherwise might not be able to access education.”she stressed that “our education in emergencies work does support greater community awareness of how to protect children in education, teaching students and teachers about peace-building and strategies for conflict resolution and we view compliance with international humanitarian law as the primary basis to protect schools and educational facilities, but also encouraging international partners to endorse the Declaration and most recently Germany, who signed up last month. This is an issue that we take very seriously. We are acting on that – we are supporting the work of the UN and are the single largest financial contributor to the SG’s Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict’s office.”

June 2018: Gisela met with Ms. Cristal Downing, Senior Policy Advisor, and discussed the UN Security Council resolution, which was under negotiation that day. I asked the UK to highlight their endorsement in the open debate and she seemed to think this would be possible. I flagged the potential joint statement and she urged preparations on this to move ahead as quickly as possible as sign off can be tricky. I expressed disappointed at the UK’s objection to the addition of language on military use in the Human Rights Council resolution on the right to education. She was also surprised and offered to follow up with capital but the situation was resolved very soon afterwards. I asked if the UK could reach out to Australia, who seem put out that the UK had endorsed without consulting with them. She said they had already shared a note with them explaining the reasons for their change of position but that she would be happy to do a little more outreach. They were likely to refer to the Declaration in their statement at the open debate, which they did.

July 2018: the UK embassy to Iraq will be hosting the launch event for our Iraq MHPSS report (“Picking up the Pieces”) in Baghdad on 10th July. An advocacy opportunity for the UK to push the GoI to sign on. Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict. Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).Mentioned and welcomed the Safe Schools Declaration during the statement to the SC.

September 2018: the Mission of Norway met with the Mission of the UK yesterday and raised their plans on implementation of the Declaration. The UK advised that they have set up a cross-governmental working group, which will look at both how to comply domestically and how to promote the Declaration internationally. They have just hired a new desk officer to look after the Declaration and related work in London, so things are slowly being ramped up. Norway highlighted the Commonwealth as an area they could make a big difference in supporting endorsement and implementation. Orlaith, STC UK, met with the new desk officer – Erin Bourke. She is charged with leading on the SSD work, as well as Children and Armed Conflict, Education in Emergencies, and Child Rights . The Third International Conference is also very much on her radar. She seems interested and enthusiastic, and she highlighted the Commonwealth as their priority. It’s worth noting that she was keen to manage expectations about how much of her time will be devoted to Safe Schools. The cross Whitehall working group (DFID, FCO and MoD) will be meeting over the coming weeks to set out their ways of working and areas of responsibility, so I hope once that is in place things will progress. Erin said she would welcome any intel on the position of other States and information on opportunities for SSD advocacy, so Orlaith updated her on recent meetings held in Geneva with Pakistan and other states.

October 2018: UN WPS advocacy in New York: Gisela met with Cristal, who will be working on the WPS file. She felt a reference to the Declaration would be difficult this time around as the statement to the open debate will be delivered by the Minister of Defence. She pledged to try. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email. Gisela will share priorities for peer advocacy.

October 2018: Brussels Briefing to EU COHAFA/COHOM: United Kingdom mentioned that they have convened a cross-governmental working group to look at implementation, that they will attend the Spain conference, and are ready to support the preparations. The delegate asked what are the common objections to endorsement that are raised by member states, and asked for more information about the engagement with armed non-states actors.

November 2018: Core Group meeting Geneva on Spain conference, The United Kingdom advised bilaterally that they are sponsoring two Human Rights Officers in the Geneva office of the Commonwealth, and offered to introduce GCPEA and mobilise them to advocate to the small island members. UK has strongly advocated for a reference to the SSD in theUNGA rights of the child resolution.

January 2019: DfID with support from FCO organised Education World Forum on 20-23rd January. A Call to Action, which will be endorsed at the Education World Forum, includes a call to endorse the Declaration and use the Guidelines. Reference to the Safe Schools Declaration and a copy of the Guidelines have been included in the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Service Publication 1325 on Human Security in Military Operations.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva. mentioned their endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva. Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

April 2019: GCPEA met with the Senior Policy Advisor, who is the Children and Armed Conflict expert. GCPEA mentioned that Lord Ahmad was invited as a moderator to the Spain conference. He couldn’t confirm Lord Ahmad would be able to attend but reassured that if he is not, they would try to get another high-level representative to participate. He was very interested in the link between sexual violence and other types of attacks on education such as child recruitment. He was interested in how different violations overlap. He promised to share the key messages on sexual violence with the WPS expert. GCPEA highlighted Ambassador Pierce’s strong call for more endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the last UN Security Council open debate on women, peace and security and said that a statement at the upcoming Open Debate would be also extremely effective.

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

September 2019: During her speech, UK’s Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French called upon States to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, and to prioritise the continuation of education during conflict.

February 2020: At the UN launched the practical guidance for mediators to protect children in situations of armed conflict, Ambassador Pierce (United Kingdom) highlighted that attacks on schools and teachers in Mali had led to the closure of over 900 schools. She also noted that UNICEF estimated that 80 per cent of schools had remained closed in Cameroon since 2016.

February 2020: The UK co-hosted a photography exhibition to showcase work to make 12 years of education a reality. In his opening remarks, Minister Lord Ahmad, the UK Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict referred to the Safe School Declaration and noted the numerous barriers to a girl’s education.

June 2020: CAAC debate statement: “We are thus concerned by the Annual Report’s findings that in 2019, state actors were responsible for more than half of all attacks on schools. In 2018, the UK endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, committing to reduce the impact of conflict on education. We strongly support the SG’s call for other states to sign up to this declaration, to strengthen the protection of education from attack because, as Mariam reminded us, children have a right to their childhoods and to an education free from conflict.”

June 2020: Nevena followed up with the UK Mission in New York to thank them for the strong statement and the reference to the SSD at the CAAC debate. She also shared that we had recently met with a few Commonwealth members (Bangladesh, Bahamas, Ghana, and SVG) to discuss endorsement and encouraged them to reinforce the message. They promised to pass along the information to their colleagues in London leading on Commonwealth. Véronique had also passed their thanks to the FCO here in London. They hope to meet in September to discuss further steps.

September 2020: statement Niger’s CAAC briefing on attacks on schools: “Attacks on educational facilities disproportionately impact girls and are often intended to impede girls’ access to education; We know that some Member States are concerned that the Declaration and Guidelines are inconsistent with or go beyond existing law. We conducted a full review and concluded that the Guidelines complement existing international humanitarian and human rights law, reflecting the best operational practice that the United Kingdom already follows and facilitating compliance by providing clear, flexible and practical guidance. We applaud the tremendous efforts of the Niger and Belgium to ensure that reference to the Declaration has been included in presidential statement in spite of opposition. We strongly urge Member States that have not done so already to endorse the Declaration and commit to avoiding military use of educational facilities; The United Kingdom Armed Forces is one of the first in the world to have a dedicated policy on human security, integrating into military planning and operations the Safe Schools Declaration and Guidelines and relevant Security Council resolutions. We strongly urge Member States to integrate guidance on military use of educational facilities into military planning and operations.”

March 2021: Made reference to the SSD during the ID with the SRSG on CAAC.

June 2021: Apolline and Yatasha met with Sonia Farey, Counsellor at the UK Mission in New York. The representative stated that the UK’s priorities include the right to education, particularly for girls. She said that the implementation network was very timely as states increasingly wish to focus on what implementation looks like in practice and she looked forward to the Eurasia consultation. GCPEA presented the most recent developments on the Safe Schools Declaration, notably the recent endorsements, upcoming Nigeria conference, upcoming Eurasia consultation and the state-led implementation network. The representative stated that the UK is a strong supporter of the Declaration and strives to make reference to it as often as possible. We spoke about getting the remaining UNSC non-endorsing states on board, particularly outgoing India and Tunisia and incoming Gabon and UAE. UK suggested UAE might be more open now with this position, and considering their role in the UK-UAE HRC resolution on the right to education for girls. GCPEA suggested it might be timely to try for a UNSC resolution on attacks on schools and their military use, building off of Niger’s Presidential Statement, around 9 September for the International Day. 

October 2021: UK MoD participated in the Fourth International Conference on SSD in Nigeria, in panel 1 on implementing the Guidelines.

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

December 2021: positive statement citing the SSD during Arria formula meeting on the protection of education in armed conflict, “We are proud to have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, and we encourage other Member States to join us in this commitment”. Listed investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of attacks, according to international law, as key action needed to protect education.

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : “Secondly, we are deeply concerned that attacks on schools have continued to increase, including targeted attacks on girls’ schools. The United Kingdom has long campaigned for the right of every girl to 12 years of quality education; that includes girls affected by conflict.” “We continue to urge all Member States to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and to address the gendered impact of attacks on education. I again echo the Secretary-General’s call for the Taliban to enable the immediate return of all Afghan girls to the classroom”. Focus on the increase in cases of sexual violence against children. Announcement that the UK will convene an international conference in London in November to combat SVC.

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.