Ethiopia

Interest expressed around the UNESCO side event in Paris (Nov 2015). UNESCO is following up with delegation and trying to capitalize on presence of Min of Education at the General Conference.

March 2017: NRC wrote to the Federal Ministry of Education. The office responded to say that they are favourably disposed to endorse but the minister was travelling. Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools.

May 2017: Save the Children had an advocacy meeting with Ethiopia in New York. Save the Children International (Addis) secured the agreement of the embassies of Liberia, Norway, and Argentina to co-host a breakfast meeting on 21 June in Addis Ababa which will aim to raise awareness of the Declaration and advocate for more endorsements. Approximately 60 participants from Member States (including defense attachés), UN Agencies, international organizations are expected to attend. Save the Children International (Addis) has arranged for the Deputy Country Director of Save the Children Somalia to brief the AU Peace and Security Council Open Session on 13 June on the topic of ending child marriage in humanitarian situations in Africa. Among Save the Children’s calls will be to urge for more endorsement of the Declaration.

June 2017: Following a recommendation from Save the Children Addis, the African Union Peace and Security Council issued a press statement following their Open Debate on ending child marriage, which included the following: “Council and participants stressed that keeping girls in schools is one of the most effective instruments to end child marriages. In this regard, they urged Member States to endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration and to develop refugee education action plans, with a view to providing inclusive and quality education in refugee situations in Africa.” Save the Children Pan-African and AU Liaison Office is conducting outreach to the representatives of endorsing states in Addis Ababa to advocate for the establishment of a Group of Friends on Children and Armed Conflict.

September 2017: Anita and Gisela planned to travel to Addis Ababa from 9-11 October to have meetings with the African Union on the Declaration, and for Gisela to meet with the government. Gisela sought the assistance of the Geneva Mission but only secured one meeting with the International Cooperation division. Visit cancelled and Gisela provided a written briefing to the Geneva expert instead. GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use and to endorse the Declaration during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict.

October 2017: Statement at Arria formula meeting: Civilian objects are provided special protection under IHL; not serious concerns of the continued use of schools by armed forces; MRM – provides a good framework to sustain IHL particularly in relation to the six grave violations; it has enabled parties to prevent violations and to take concrete measures; the MRM should continue [missed]; Continue engagement of the SRSG to protect education from attacks is critical, encourage the SRSG to continue engagement in regional and sub-regional contexts – e.g., engage with the AU – and continue her engagement with other UN arms; Greater coordination b – International frameworks – there is a role for the SRSG to play in strengthening implementation of relevant frameworks. GCPEA sought meetings in capital through the Mission in Geneva and received an appointment with the Director General for International Organisations. The visit had to be cancelled, but will be revisited in 2018. Watchlist and Child Soldiers International met with the expert in New York. The expert had no update on their position but pledged to check in with her counterparts in capital. She advised that outreach via Geneva and Addis Ababa would also be helpful. She advised that the legal department is examining a variety of instruments (OPAC, Paris Principles, Vancouver Principles, Safe Schools Declaration) for their compatibility with existing law and obligations. Endorsement by the time of the Open Debate would be difficult, but she will reopen the discussion with her capital.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. No response.

October 2018: UN WPS open debate advocacy in New York: Gisela met with the WPS expert, who wanted to know what information we had about instances of military use in Ethiopia, which would help to understand whether endorsement would be problematic. Ethiopia sees IHL as the appropriate framework, though she was interested by the examples of positive changes in African countries. She recommended that the Norwegian embassy in Addis Ababa should make an approach. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email, together with link to Ethiopia profile from Education Under Attack 2018.

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

June 2019: GCPEA followed up with the Ministry of Education after the Third International Conference in Palma, to encourage endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration.

October 2019: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He moved swiftly to restore relations with Eritrea that had been frozen since a 1998-2000 border war and is credited with ending the standoff. He was also instrumental in peacemaking in Sudan, convincing the country’s military rulers and opposition to restart talks, and persuading Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to back his mediation.

June 2022: The Nigerian attaché in Geneva engaged Ethiopia on the SSD, and they have indicated interest to look into it favorably. They have requested details of the SSD as well as a formal invitation to endorse. GCPEA prepared a draft letter on behalf of the champion states.

July 2022: The champion states sent a letter to the Geneva Ambassador, encouraging endorsement.

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

February 2023: This information was received from our colleagues in UNICEF based in Ethiopia/ not to be shared further. UNICEF met with the Minister of Education on 22 February, with their global director for Education, Robert Jenkins. The Minister made it clear that it’s not his priority. Essentially, he said that he has to pick his battles and this isn’t one of them. He emphasized that he thinks armed groups and even police should not be in or near any schools or universities and that he agrees with the intent of the SSD. But he will not push it.
March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools and provided a speaker – third secretary from Geneva mission.

March 2017: UNAMA organized a workshop in Mazar, Afghanistan, aimed at finding ways to prevent the recruitment of children by armed groups. The workshop included sessions outlining international legal instruments including the SSD, which Afghanistan endorsed in 2015.

May 2017: Human Rights Watch issued a letter to all NATO member states about civilian protection in Afghanistan, asking them to help Afghanistan to stop using schools in light of their shared commitments under the Declaration.

September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the Ambassador of Afghanistan in New York asking to raise issue of attacks and military use and to draw attention to the Declaration and Guidelines during the Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict.

October 2017: Human Rights Watch issued a report on barriers to access to education for girls in Afghanistan, together with a new animation video, highlighting many of these barriers, including attacks on students and military use of schools.

March 2018: During the Annual Day on the Rights of the Child, 5 March: Afghanistan highlighted their support for the Declaration in their national statement.

May 2018: In its monthly update for May, Watchlist called on Afghanistan to implementation the Declaration.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

August 2018: Norwegian Refugee Council issued a report, Educational Sites in Afghanistan are Changing from Bastions of Hope and Safety into Spaces of Fear, Armed Conflict and Politics. According to the report, schools in Afghanistan are increasingly becoming military, ideological, and political battlegrounds. “28 per cent of surveyed children and parents stated that schools in their places of origin had been closed due to the conflict. NRC found that the majority of surveyed children do not feel safe at school, with many boys and girls terrified that their school would be attacked. 12 per cent had experienced attacks on their school and 15 per cent experienced shooting very near to their school building. Many had missed exams or periods of school, either because of threats from armed actors, or because they or their parents believed that the school would be targeted. 36 per cent of the children were frightened about risks of kidnap or attack en route to school.” The report also refers to NRC Afghanistan’s new 2018-2020 Protection Strategy which will focus partly on protecting education and operationalizing the Safe Schools Declaration.

November 2018: GCPEA has been working with Save the Children to prepare a briefing paper on attacks on education in Afghanistan that will be released on November 26, ahead of the Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan that will take place in Geneva on November 27-28.

November 2018: GCPEA released Attacks on Education in Afghanistan briefing paper to coincide with the Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan, where the Afghan Government and the international community will gather to discuss strategies for achieving peace and development in the country.

March 2019: mentioned their endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva. Joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

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

December 2019: HRW made a submission to CEDAW: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/23/submission-committee-elimination-discrimination-against-women-review-afghanistan.

April 2020: the Safe Schools Declaration was referenced by the Working Group in connection with the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan (document S/2019/727).

March 2020: the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has now made its first reference to the Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Used during Armed Conflict, in its concluding observations regarding Afghanistan

Oct 2020: GCPEA Director attended a joint virtual meeting which brought together the Group of Friends of Afghanistan in New York, Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict in New York, and the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict in Kabul, Afghanistan. In her intervention, Diya highlighted that attacks against students and education personnel accelerated dramatically during 2017-2019 and gave concrete recommendations to strengthen implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration.