UN General Assembly Resolution on the Right to Education in Emergency Situations

Urges Member States to implement strategies and policies to ensure and support the realization of the right to education as an integral element of humanitarian assistance and humanitarian response, to the maximum of their available resources; requests Member States to ensure that the best possible systems of education are in place, including through the allocation of sufficient resources, the appropriate adaptation of curricula and training of teachers, the implementation of risk assessments, disaster preparedness programmes in schools, the legal framework for protection, and health and basic social services, so as to withstand emergencies; urges all parties to armed conflict to fulfil their obligations under international law, in particular their applicable obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including to respect civilians, including students and educational personnel, to respect civilian objects such as educational institutions and to refrain from the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups; urges Member States to ensure that disaster risk and safety considerations are factored into all phases of the planning, design, construction and reconstruction of educational facilities; also urges Member States, in their support for education, to specifically address the gender-specific needs of girls in emergency contexts, including their increased vulnerability to gender-based violence; calls upon all parties concerned to ensure that all peace processes and agreements and post-conflict recovery, peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts, as well as reconstruction planning, are sensitive to the special and specific needs of women, children and youth and include specific measures for the protection of civilians, including the facilitation of early access to education, learning and training, and to ensure the participation of women, children and young persons in those processes; calls upon all Member States, including donors, and invites the private sector and all concerned individuals and institutions to continue to support diverse humanitarian funding channels and to consider increasing their contributions to education programmes defined in humanitarian appeals.