Implementing the Guidelines

This Toolkit is based upon the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict and comprises a number of practical tools intended as teaching aids, guidance and aides-memoire for national Ministries of Defense, military trainers, officers and soldiers, and their equivalent for non-state armed groups, involved in the planning and conduct of military operations. They in no way supplant national doctrine or guidance on this topic, but are intended to assist in the development of such doctrine and related training within national training systems. Likewise, this Toolkit and the Guidelines are intended to apply to situations of armed conflict, and have not been drafted with regards to schools and universities used or damaged as the result of civil/internal disturbances.

The Toolkit aims to assist those involved in the planning and execution of military operations, in relation to decisions about the use and targeting of institutions dedicated to education. It should be used not only to assist with pre-deployment training and operational planning, normally focused on military centric operations, but also as part of ongoing, in-theatre training that would also encompass military–civil cooperation and engagement. In keeping with this aim, and the aim of supporting implementation of the Guidelines, the Toolkit takes into account the basic considerations set out in the Commentary on the Guidelines:

• The individual tools, as with the Guidelines, respect international law as it stands. The Toolkit is intended to assist states and non-state parties to armed conflict in developing and adopting new and better practices, suited to their particular circumstances. It is intended that this, in turn, will lead to a shift in behavior, resulting in better protection of schools and universities in times of armed conflict and, in particular, in a reduction in their use by the fighting forces of parties to armed conflict.
• The Toolkit is based on what is practically achievable, recognizing that parties to armed conflict are invariably faced with difficult dilemmas requiring pragmatic solutions.
• The Toolkit reflects existing good practices for the protection of schools and universities during military operations, and is intended for use by all parties to armed conflict. Both the Guidelines and the Toolkit are intended, therefore, for wide dissemination and implementation by both state and non-state parties to armed conflicts. The Guidelines and this Toolkit both aim to contribute to broader guidance on how best to protect these institutions of education.