Pakistan

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

February 2015: Bilateral contacts with Norway had indicated some openness but vocal opposition around HRC resolution on right to education in June 2015. Bilateral meeting in NYC no opposition voiced, issue to be taken up in capital. September 2016: HRW (Bede) recommended Tony Lake (UNICEF) to prioritise Pakistan for advocacy on SSD.

February 2017: Meeting with GVA mission. We had a long, thoughtful conversation. He of course talked about the situation in Pakistan, but was also very curious to know of our data and work on military use of schools. How common is it in other countries. What’s happened in other countries. What was the process behind the Guidelines, what concerns were expressed, what if we don’t agree with everything in the Guidelines, how do they conform to international law. I gave lots of examples of implementation, and talked about potential for sharing good practice from Pakistan to others and for Pakistan to learn from others facing similar threats. I conceded that a country as large as Pakistan isn’t going to endorse by March, even were it not for their current problems on this issue, to which he agreed. But I stressed that they should attend to begin the conversation and listen, and he seemed interested, and said that’s something that the local ambassador could definitely do, and he asked more questions about that option.

February 2017: Received advice from a Pakistan diplomat that capital level approaches would be most effective, and preferably from Norway rather than civil society.

April 2017: HRW dispatch on Pakistan calling for endorsement: http://bit.ly/2o9xegv.

June 2017: CESCR member asked Pakistan: “Are you going to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration?” They were asked again when they failed to reply. They responded admitting that schools are sometimes used. Rough transcript: Kamran Michael, Minister for Human Rights: “Before I give the floor to my ambassador, let me two things, two questions were asked. One was the use of schools by military. I think that should not remain unanswered. Well, Pakistani Army is an organized force. It’s more organized than many other institutions in Pakistan. It’s not irregular that it goes and occupies any area of Pakistan. And everywhere, they have cantonments. In most areas of Pakistan, they have cantonment. Sometime when we invite army in aid to civil power, for example, if there’s a muharam, we have a religious clash fear, or there’s a national disaster, or for example, there is some military action against the extremists/terrorists. Sometime in the move. The problem is of how to accommodate them. We do accommodate them in official buildings, but it’s 100% sure when schools are closed. Otherwise, no, it’s not possible. Even local people don’t allow. They come up, they make possession. So if there’s summer holiday, or winter holiday, and if the army moves in the area where we don’t have cantonment, and it’s rare, very few areas we don’t have cantonment. And in the emergency of situation, they might be maybe one day, two days, three days, few days, in that area and then they move. When the militants attack schools, and sometimes they say because schools was being used by the military so we are, it’s not as such true. The reason is if you understand the mentality of these extremists, at a sociological-psychological level, particularly I sometimes feel this is a battle between development and non-development. They attack all the signs of development, they attack schools, they attack women schools, women buses, they attack telecommunications centers, they attack media centers. They attack the signs of modernization which we consider. So schools, because they are not, I should maybe not use maybe very strong words, but I think they sometimes live at the level of savages they have a beastly behavior, they want to live in an area where there are no schools. They don’t want schools. They don’t want females going schools. Even the males, they think haram, this is Western education. Very small bunch of the people who we term terrorists or extremists. They attack these schools because they think these schools are symbols of the modernism unfortunately.”

June 2017: Following a recommendation from Human Rights Watch, in its Concluding Observations on the initial report of Pakistan, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights invited Pakistan to endorse the Declaration:
“(h) Enhance security at schools; provide an alternative space for education in case of an attack; and immediately and completely ban the use of schools by military forces. The Committee invites the State to endorse the “Safe School Declaration”, and commit to using the “Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use in Armed Conflict”;” July 2017:The United Nations recommendation to Pakistan to endorse the Declaration, issued in June by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, was reported in a Pakistani newspaper, in an article which cited statistics from GCPEA and HRW on attacks on and military use of schools.

September 2017 UNSC: 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. We also asked to note how the CESCR recently called on them to endorse the Declaration, and suggested that this would be a great opportunity to do so.

May 2018: Human Rights Watch issued a dispatch detailing several attacks and how Islamist militant violence has disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children. GCPEA wrote to a contact in the Geneva Mission to request an update on their consideration of the Declaration, and the expert responded to ask for the list of endorsing states. GCPEA shared this.
referred to attacks on schools in their statement.

July 2018: During the UNSC Open Debate on children and armed conflict, Pakistan referred to attacks on schools in their statement.

August 2018: Gisela met with the DPR and Second Secretary in the Mission of Pakistan in Geneva. The DPR assured us that Pakistan supported the aims of the Declaration morally and politically, but seemed sceptical on the possibility of endorsement. He provided some critical feedback on Education Under Attack 2018. The key criticism as concerns Pakistan was that each country should be appropriately distinguished as a law & order -v- armed conflict context. He thought attacks by criminals and “lone wolfs” should also be included, though he obliquely referred to the political difficulties this would mean in terms of getting the US to endorse. He cautioned against relying on media reports which can be “blind” and biased. He was critical of the inclusion of some information that was too vague in his view. e.g. From the section on children recruitment: “According to the UN, there were allegations in 2014, 2015, and 2016 that the TTP used religious schools in Pakistan to recruit and train children. However, there were no specific details on this activity.” He was eager to give assurances that the current situation has improved, particularly in Karachi, as TTP has been “eliminated” and culprits of attacks on schools have been apprehended. He cut through the advocacy point on peacekeeping: this is not a strong enough reason for Pakistan to endorse since peacekeepers are already trained on protection of civilians, etc. He wanted the scope of the Declaration to be broadened to include law and order situations. Naturally, we responded that Argentina and Norway as champions are unlikely to change the text of a political declaration…They were interested in the Spain conference and responded well to the suggestion that Pakistan would have information to share on their experience of enhancing protection for schools. The Second Secretary told us that his MoD assures him that they do not use schools. (Of course, we know there have been incidents as recently as 2016.) We noted that he had spoken out against the practice of military use during the HRC resolution negotiations in March and he said that this was Pakistan’s position. We followed up in writing sharing a letter for their Foreign Minister. We have previously been advised by other Mission diplomats that advocacy in capital, preferably by endorsing states, would be more effective than approaches in Geneva and New York.

February 2019: GCPEA and Save the Children Geneva met with the First Secretary. She asked about the scope of the Declaration and how we define “armed conflict”. She was also interested to hear more about implementation of the Declaration in Yemen.
She couldn’t guarantee Pakistan’s participation in the conference. GCPEA highlighted how Pakistan could share expertise in a range of protective measures in improving protection of educational facilities, such as the use of mobile alert systems, security cameras, barbed wires on the walls, and armed security guards at schools. Follow-up: GCPEA followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister, and a link to the article on protective measures undertaken by the police in Peshawar. She responded that she had passed the letter to capital and that she looked forward to more opportunities to exchange views on such an important subject.

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.

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

January 2020: Human Rights Watch made a submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women regarding Pakistan. Among other things, it notes attacks on education in the country, and military use of schools, and notes how both the UN’s Child Rights Committee and Economic and Social Rights Committee have urged Pakistan to do more, including inviting Pakistan to endorse 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