The impact of armed conflicts on the right to education
As determinants of the failure to uphold the right to education, several factors are commonly associated, including lack of funding, limited educational provision, shortages of classrooms and teachers, the limited value that many families place on education, discrimination based on gender, class, or ethnicity, and endemic poverty. In this context, we also recognize that the impact of armed conflicts must be considered as one of the factors that, in many countries around the world, significantly threatens this right in societies where human rights are not respected. From a Human Rights methodological approach that examines the factors preventing their development and exercise, as well as their non-fulfillment, we focus on the right to education. Despite being fully recognized at the international level through treaties, covenants, and conventions, this right is often conditioned and denied in the midst of armed conflicts. Essentially, this is because, throughout the 20th century, a trend has been consolidated in which the disproportionate death and suffering of the civilian population has become one of the defining characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts. To analyze and establish the key elements that define and determine the impact of armed conflicts on the exercise of the right to education, this article draws on both technical reports from UNESCO, UNICEF, and Save the Children, as well as the body of United Nations Resolutions issued between 1997 and 2021, which have addressed the issue of protecting children's rights, including the right to education, in the context of armed conflicts. The conclusions outline some of the possible reasons why, despite the existence of an international humanitarian law framework designed to ensure the right to learn even in conflict situations, guaranteeing this fundamental human right remains a challenge.
Share in:
