Spain

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway + 2015: Present at the First International Conference on the SSD in Oslo.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “Given the recruitment of minors and the bombing of schools and the kidnapping, rape and killing of children, we have to be intransigent when it comes to the protection of children and demand strict compliance with domestic and international law.” January – March 2017: Member of Core Group in Geneva. Not consistent in attendance but responsive to emails. Save the Children Spain engaged strongly with ministries in Madrid.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools, with representation by the legal advisor on IHL in the MoD. Strongly supportive and interested in supporting the work in future. Save the Children Spain met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain to discuss implementation of the SSD.

April 2017: The legal advisor spoke in strong support of the Declaration and the conference during a meeting on compliance with IHL in Geneva. He talked about the “new form of multilateralism” that the Safe Schools process provides… described the process as inclusive, informal, adaptable.

May 2017: Save the Children Spain engaged the government of Spain to reach out to Spanish-speaking countries that have not endorsed the Declaration.

September 2017 UNSC: 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.

December 2017: Meeting in Spain: Santiago Antón, Spain’s Subdirector Adjunto de NNUU, Dirección General de Naciones Unidas y Derechos Humanos, MAEC, asked if GCPEA had provided assistance to states that have incorporated the Guidelines into their military manuals, such as Denmark and New Zealand. I replied that our member organisations, such as Save the Children and Human Rights Watch, have done so, also in non-endorsing states such as the UK. I stressed that Spain should follow their example by making changes to legislation, manuals, etc., that we are ready to provide advice, but suggested that they could also reach out to their counterparts in states that have taken such measures to ask their advice. Jaime Iglesias, Spain’s Jefe de Área Prevención y evaluación, Oficina de Acción Humanitaria, asked what recommendation their office could make to the Ministry of Defence of Spain. I suggested that they could recommend they review their military legislation and doctrine to improve protection of education and deter or prohibit military use. I also suggested that Spain could take a key role in the development of PESCO to ensure that the commitments of the Declaration are well-reflected in PESCO’s rules of engagement. Mr. Iglesias advised that Spain has made education in emergencies a priority in their new humanitarian strategy (the first time). I asked him to share details of this – he was very keen to see it highlighted by GCPEA as an example of implementation. Mr. Iglesias also referred to initiatives at the Security Council and reiterated Spain’s intention to work closely with Sweden and Italy. Michela advised me after the meeting that the proposal for a resolution on attacks on education is still alive, that Spain is working with the draft prepared by Bede, and that this will be picked up again in 2018 in partnership with Sweden and Italy. Francisco Rey, President of the Instituto de Estudios sobre Conflictos y Accion Humanitaria (IECAH), who is also a member of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Mission, described the Declaration as pragmatic, but suggested that it also indicates a recognition of the failure of IHL. I agreed, and spoke about the challenges on compliance with IHL, and the general lack of appetite for creating new obligations, which partly explains why we now have other instruments being developed, such as principles and political declarations. I focused on the practical improvements that can be achieved by working with these types of instruments in the absence of a favourable environment among states for progress on IHL.

January 2018: Save the Children Spain is continuing its advocacy towards the MFA to host the Third International Conference on Safe Schools in 2019. Spain has been in contact with Norway to request additional information.

March 2018: During the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with SRSG Gamba, Spain highlighted their support for the Declaration in their national statements. Spain announced for the second time that it was “seriously considering” hosting the next international conference in 2019.

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

June 2018: Gisela met with Ms. Victoria Ortega, Counsellor. It was a long and interesting meeting, focused mainly on the Spain conference. She was well briefed by capital. There was a lot of crossover with the discussions Bede, Catalina, and I had with the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs in Madrid, so I will do a report on that instead. A specific point is that the New York Mission organised the first annual retreat on international humanitarian law in April 2018, focused on attacks on hospitals. Participations was by the 15 UN Security Council members and an additional 15 states. She suggested that the 2019 retreat could focus on attacks on education and act to some degree as a preparatory event for the Spain conference. She had been attending the ECOSOC humanitarian affairs segment that week and had raised the Declaration during a discussion of the humanitarian impact of armed conflict on children. She mentioned being very impressed by Ms. Mari Malek, South Sudanese Refugee and Founder of Stand for Education, who shared a panel with Henrietta Fore, Yasmine Sherif, and Robert Mardini. She suggested that she might be a good panellist for the Spain conference.

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).Mentioned and welcomed the Safe Schools Declaration during the statement to the SC.

October 2018: During GCPEA briefing for GoF WPS, Spain linked the issue to the 2030 Agenda, with Spain highlighting the international conference and the thematic focus on gender. Gisela met with Pablo, Victoria’s replacement, who was previously posted to NATO. He has been highlighting the conference at any relevant event, including an interactive dialogue with SRSG Gamba the previous week. He was supportive of the idea of a joint démarche by Argentina, Norway, and Spain’s embassies in priority capitals worldwide, once the conference dates have been confirmed. He also liked the idea of having trainers from Dallaire, DPKO, Geneva Call, ICRC, NATO, and Save the Children to lead the table-top exercise breakout sessions. He highlighted the need to raise awareness among ANSAs of their obligations under IHL. Gisela updated him on the timeline for Geneva events in preparation for the conference. He will seek to identify more New York events of relevance. He was interested in GCPEA visits to Somalia and Sudan, and thought it would be good to highlight any positive developments at the conference. He also hoped Ukraine would endorse by then and be invited to present their work on implementation.He found the link of our issue with the WPS open debate very compelling, and views education as a fundamental component to ensure that women are empowered and can use their agency, not just be treated as victims. He also made the link with the call for more women to be peace mediators, which can be better achieved if they have had access to education. He would raise the issue at an event hosted by the Netherlands on 22 October on sexual violence in conflict, and another hosted by Poland on 26 October on children and sexual violence in conflict. They will also refer to the Declaration and conference in their statement to the open debate. 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: Spain said they were actively encouraging more endorsements, particularly in Latin America. The delegate spoke about the Spain conference, emphasised the focus on gender, and the link with the High Level Political Forum on SDGs 4 and 16 due to take place in July 2019 in New York.

March 2019: Co-hosted GCPEA side event “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education”. The Director General of the MFA for the United Nations noted the high attendance at the event as confirmation that the issue of protection of education is becoming an international priority. He thanked GCPEA for its support on the planning of the Third International Conference. He then emphasized the endorsement ceremony, which will take place on the eve of the conference, and presented the conference format and programme. He concluded his statement with a call for endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration and for participation in the conference to exchange good practices of implementation.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG Ms. Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: Spain highlighted the Third International Conference and the focus of the two thematic panels: gender perspective of attacks on education and monitoring and reporting.

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

October 2019: Nevena met with Anna Flor, Pablo’s replacement, who had recently started her mission and with the WPS expert. Pablo now covers the fourth Committee but still supervises the work related to safe schools. We discussed the recent developments around the Safe Schools Declaration. I highlighted how four countries endorsed the Declaration following their participation in the Palma conference, which demonstrates the success of the event. She was eager to know if we have finalised the concept note for the training on implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration for endorsing states, which the government will host in the first quarter of 2020. I responded that we were thrilled that Spain has taken a leadership role in supporting affected countries to implement the Declaration, and that we are ready to provide any assistance that we can to support them. I promised to share the concept note with the team by mid-November. The WPS expert found the link of our issue with the open debate strong. He advised that Spain and other countries have submitted written commitments to accelerate the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and requested recommendations from GCPEA for concrete actions to ensure implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. I highlighted the need to fill the data gap on attacks on education on women and girls, and to ensure accountability for those attacks. He promised that they will try to refer to the Declaration, to our messages on strengthening data collection, and enhancing accountability in their statement. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister, gender recommendations, and the factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration.

October 2019: GCPEA issued letters to their Foreign Minister, encouraging them to highlight in their statements to the Council the Safe Schools Declaration as a tool to ensure implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
October 2019: During the WPS open debate, Spain mentioned the following reference: “Spain this year hosted the third International Conference on Safe Schools, which, among other issues, addressed the impact of attacks against education on women and girls. The 87 participants agreed that it is essential to forge synergies between the safe schools agenda and the women and peace and security agenda. I encourage other States represented here to adopt the Safe Schools Declaration as an instrument to prevent attacks on access to education.”

February 2020: Preparations commenced for the Technical Cooperation Training Programme: Implementing the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. The training will be hosted by the Spanish Government with support from GCPEA. *Due to the global health situation, a decision by Spain has been taken to postpone the training which was initially scheduled for April 2020.

February-March 2021: organised the first international training on SSD implementation virtually.

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

October 2021: co-hosted the Fourth International Conference on the SSD in Nigeria.

October 2021: co-sponsored the UNSCR2601.

April 2022: HRC Special session on Ukraine “- Attacks against schools and hospitals ”

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate :
– Spain adopted the Safe Schools Declaration and its Guidelines to protect education during conflict, and hosted the first International training on the Declaration
– Calling on all states to endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration, particularly those that cosponsored UNSCR 2601 but have not endorsed it yet
– We hope that TES will focus on protecting schools in conflict

September 2022 Transforming Education Summit: Spain “hopes to continue considerably increasing aid, which in 2022 will reach the figure of 220M euros, supporting education in contexts of emergencies and conflict, as well as the Safe Schools Declaration.”

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.

March 2023: ID SRSG CAAC (52 HRC) national statement: – Attacks on schools make children particularly vulnerable
– Encourage all states to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, welcome Australia’s endorsement, and encourage countries in the region to do the same