{"id":5290,"date":"2014-12-29T18:37:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T16:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=5290"},"modified":"2014-12-29T18:37:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T16:37:49","slug":"afghanistan-global-coalition-to-protect-education-from-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2014\/12\/afghanistan-global-coalition-to-protect-education-from-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan – Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:\u00a0Global Coalition to Protect\u00a0Education from Attack<\/a><\/p>\n

COUNTRY PROFILE for Afghanistan
\nPublished by: Global Coalition to Protect\u00a0Education from Attack<\/h4>\n
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The UN reported more than 1,000 attacks on education in 2009-2012, including schools being set on fire, suicide bombings and remotely detonated bombs, killings of staff, threats to staff and abductions. Given the challenges in collecting and verifying reports in Afghanistan, the true number may well be significantly higher.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Context<\/h2>\n

During 2009-2012, armed opposition groups, including the Taliban, continued to fight to regain control of the country, which they lost in 2001 to US-backed forces.<\/p>\n

NATO assumed responsibility for security in Afghanistan from the US-led coalition in 2006. Following military setbacks, in March 2009, US President Barack Obama announced a new policy of increasing US forces there in the short term, taking the total number of foreign troops to 130,000, while agreeing to hand control of security to Afghan forces by December 2014.<\/p>\n

By the end of 2012, the Taliban had a strong influence over areas of the south and east but also maintained pockets of control and the ability to carry out attacks in every region of the country. In 2011, the Afghan government and its international partners began efforts to hold peace negotiations with the Taliban but there was little concrete progress by mid-2013.395<\/sup><\/p>\n

In addition to the Taliban, numerous other armed anti-government groups were active, some affiliated with the Taliban and some pursuing separate agendas. The situation was further complicated by the unpredictable activities of village militias (arbakai) \u2013 some allied with or supported by the government of Afghan President Karzai and some operating independently \u2013 and the Afghan Local Police, a village-level defence force established by the Afghan government at the urging of the US to defend communities from attack.396<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Taliban and other groups have for many years attacked schools, teachers and students.397<\/sup>\u00a0Along with other forms of insecurity, this violence has impeded access to education and in some areas actually rolled back progress made after schools reopened in 2002. In 2009, for example, more than 70 per cent of schools in Helmand province and more than 80 per cent in Zabul province were closed.398<\/sup>\u00a0In May 2012, the Ministry of Education reported that more than 590 schools were closed in areas at risk, mostly in Helmand, Zabul and Kandahar provinces.399<\/sup><\/p>\n

As of 2011,400<\/sup>\u00a0gross primary enrolment401<\/sup>\u00a0was 97 per cent, gross secondary enrolment was 52 per cent and gross tertiary enrolment was 4 per cent.402<\/sup>\u00a0Net attendance was only 66 per cent for boys and 40 per cent for girls at primary school level, and 18 per cent for boys and 6 per cent for girls at secondary level (2007-2011).403<\/sup><\/p>\n

Attacks on schools<\/h2>\n

Types of attacks on schools included the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), landmines and suicide bombs in or around school buildings, rocket attacks, grenades thrown into school playgrounds or facilities, the burning down of buildings, looting and forced closure of schools.404<\/sup><\/p>\n

The UN reported 613 school-related attacks in January-November 2009, compared with 348 in the whole of 2008, with attacks on schools increasing in areas around Kabul and in the east, including in the provinces of Wardak, Logar, Khost, Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar.405<\/sup>\u00a0For instance, unknown armed men used dynamite to blast a high school in Nadir Shahkot district of Khost province in May 2009, destroying 18 classrooms.406<\/sup>However, the number of incidents dropped to 197 in 2010. There were spikes in the number of attacks in September 2010, at the time of the parliamentary elections, just as there were during the 2009 presidential elections, when schools were used as polling stations.407<\/sup>\u00a0But the number fell to 167 in 2012. (There were at least 133 attacks on schools or school-related victims in 2011, but the UN report did not clarify how many other of the 185 incidents of attacks on schools and hospitals were attacks on schools.)\u00a0408<\/sup><\/p>\n

Anti-government groups were responsible for the \u2018vast majority\u2019 of attacks in 2012, the UN Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, verified.409<\/sup>\u00a0However, these groups operated both covertly and publicly, sometimes claiming responsibility for attacks and sometimes denying activities attributed to them by others, making the overall conflict \u2013 and efforts to determine the source of attacks \u2013 complex. The UN Mission also verified four attacks by armed groups that were not anti-government in 2012 and at least nine by Afghan Local Police,410<\/sup>\u00a0as well as one incident in which American forces \u2018bombarded\u2019 a school in Nangarhar province, injuring 12 children and a school employee and damaging the school building.411<\/sup>\u00a0The UN Secretary-General\u2019s Report on Children and Armed Conflict said that among documented \u2013 as opposed to verified412<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 incidents, attacks by anti-government elements outnumbered those by pro-government forces by two to one and approximately one in four attacks were by unidentified perpetrators.413<\/sup>\u00a0An earlier study reported that criminal gangs have also threatened or attacked schools in Afghanistan.414<\/sup><\/p>\n

Motives for attacks by armed non-state groups included opposition to the perceived \u2018western\u2019 or \u2018un-Islamic\u2019 curriculum, external affiliations of the school or the perceived role of Western forces in rebuilding some schools, the education of girls generally, or any operation of the central government.415<\/sup>\u00a0Other attacks were motivated by the wider political objectives of the insurgency in particular areas or the use of schools by opposing forces (see the Military use of schools section of this profile).416<\/sup><\/p>\n

In 2012, the Taliban made public statements saying it did not oppose education but only curricula that tried to supplant Islamic and national values with western culture. It also denied responsibility for attacks on schools. Nevertheless, the UN reported that attacks and threats of attack continued in areas controlled by anti-government groups, including the Taliban.417<\/sup>\u00a0In some places, the Taliban allowed schools to reopen, sometimes due to public opposition to their continuing closure. In these areas, there is evidence that Taliban officials sought to control the curriculum and the appointment of teachers, and place additional restrictions on girls.418<\/sup>\u00a0They also appointed \u2018controllers\u2019 or shadow directors who distributed Taliban directives on schools and pressed local officials to change the curriculum in line with Taliban thinking. In some cases, they checked if teachers and students were turning up to school.419<\/sup><\/p>\n

Attacks on school students, teachers and other education personnel<\/h2>\n

In addition to schools being damaged, destroyed or shut down, students, teachers and other education personnel were killed, injured, abducted and driven away from their schools. School students, teachers and other education personnel were killed or injured by the use of IEDs and suicide bombing attacks.420<\/sup>\u00a0Grenades were lobbed into schoolyards.421<\/sup>\u00a0Bombs were hidden in pushcarts and rickshaws, or carried on motorbikes.422<\/sup>\u00a0For instance, on 20 October 2010, at least eight children were killed when a powerful roadside bomb blasted a school bus carrying girls in the Khash Rod district of Nimrod province.423<\/sup>\u00a0On 3 July 2011, a suspected militant on a motorbike threw a grenade at the main gate of a school in Faryab province, wounding 17 children, two critically.424<\/sup>\u00a0On 3 May 2012, three students and two teachers were injured when an attacker threw a grenade into the playground of Mir Ghulam Mohmmad Ghubar High School in Kabul.425<\/sup><\/p>\n

According to UN figures, at least 24 teachers and other education personnel and 23 students were killed and 342 students and 41 teachers and education personnel were injured in attacks on education in 2009.426<\/sup>\u00a0In 2010, at least 21 students, teachers or education officials were killed.427<\/sup>\u00a0In 2011, 25 education staff members were killed and seven abducted; in one incident, six teachers were killed and one abducted, allegedly by anti-government elements.428<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA recorded six instances of targeted killings of teachers, school guards and department of education officials by anti-government elements during the first six months of 2012 \u2014 an increase compared with the first six months of 2011.429<\/sup>\u00a0Separately reported, one of the most serious incidents in 2012 involved an ambush in May of a convoy of education officials travelling to visit schools in Paktika province. According to the police and a provincial government spokesperson, the convoy was hit by a remotely detonated roadside bomb and then came under gunfire. Five officials were killed and three others wounded.430<\/sup><\/p>\n

Threats to girl students and their teachers<\/h3>\n

Attackers frequently targeted girls\u2019 education. \u2018Night letters\u2019 \u2013 threatening letters placed at night outside schools, en route to the school or outside teachers\u2019 homes \u2013 were distributed in the southern, south-eastern, central and northern regions, warning entire communities not to send their daughters to school and calling on teachers and government employees to close schools, especially girls\u2019 schools. Some letters warned that failure to comply with the demand would lead to retribution, such as acid or gas attacks.431<\/sup>\u00a0In another example, in 2009, a teacher at a girls\u2019 school received a letter with Taliban insignia that forced her to quit her post:\u00a0\u2018We warn you to leave your job as a teacher as soon as possible otherwise we will cut the heads off your children and we shall set fire to your daughter\u2026This is your first and last warning.\u2019432<\/sup>\u00a0In some cases, the threats were carried out. In May 2011, for instance, the head teacher of Porak girls\u2019 school, Logar province, was shot and killed near his home after receiving repeated death threats telling him not to teach girls.433<\/sup><\/p>\n

Alleged poison attacks<\/h3>\n

There were numerous allegations of mass school poisonings, either through intentional contamination of drinking water or by the release of gas into the air, including 17 such alleged incidents in the first half of 2012.434<\/sup>\u00a0Although no scientific evidence has been found to support these attacks, they have escalated fear and disrupted children\u2019s access to education. For example, on 12 May 2009, at Qazaaq school, north of Kabul, five girls reportedly went into comas and almost 100 others were hospitalised, allegedly due to the release of toxic gas.435<\/sup>\u00a0Similar attacks were reported at other girls\u2019 schools.436<\/sup>\u00a0An alleged poison attack in Kunduz city in 2010 caused 1,500 girls to miss classes at Khadeja-tul Kubra high school.437<\/sup>\u00a0By mid-2012, hundreds of students and education staff affected by such incidents had been treated by medical officials for symptoms such as nausea and unconsciousness.<\/p>\n

In June 2012, Afghanistan\u2019s National Directorate of Security announced that it had arrested 15 people, including two schoolgirls, who confessed to involvement in poison attacks in Takhar province.438<\/sup>\u00a0However, UNAMA expressed concern that the people arrested had been tortured and that the publicizing of the confessions compromised the right to a fair trial.439<\/sup><\/p>\n

In July 2012, UNAMA reported 17 alleged poisonings, particularly targeting girls\u2019 schools. In all cases it reviewed, however, it found no evidence of \u2018deliberate acts to harm\u2019. Testing of contaminated water by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and government departments found no evidence of toxic substances, and forensic testing of other potential sources of poison proved inconclusive.440<\/sup>\u00a0Preliminary WHO investigations of some cases pointed to mass hysteria as the likely cause.441<\/sup><\/p>\n

Military use of schools<\/h2>\n

Schools were also used for military purposes. The UN Secretary-General reported that international military forces used schools on five occasions in 2010,442<\/sup>\u00a0and that in 2011 schools were taken over 20 times by armed groups and 11 times by pro-government forces, totalling 31 incidents of military use of schools.443<\/sup>\u00a0In 2012, 10 schools were used for military purposes, three of them by anti-government elements and seven by pro-government forces.444<\/sup><\/p>\n

Although most occupations were temporary, local elders in Kapisa province told UNAMA in 2012 that the Afghan National Army (ANA) had used a school building for the previous four years, forcing staff to teach pupils outside.<\/p>\n

There was also evidence that occupation of schools by security forces made the buildings a target for attack. For instance, in May 2012, after police occupied two schools in Badakhshan province, displacing the students and teachers, anti-government elements fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the school compound, damaging the building, and warned local officials that they would continue to target schools used for military purposes. In June, the forces vacated both schools.445<\/sup><\/p>\n

Attacks on higher education<\/h2>\n

Several universities were also targeted. For example, a new Islamic university, Jamiyat\u2019al-Uloom\u2019al-Islamiya, in Jalalabad, was badly damaged in a bomb attack on 8 February 2011, following threatening letters accusing the university and three local seminaries of \u2018spreading western propaganda and poisoning the minds of the young generation in Afghanistan\u2019.446<\/sup>\u00a0According to news reports, the threats and bombing caused 120 students to drop out.447<\/sup><\/p>\n

The use of suicide bombers extended to at least one university as well as to schools. On 7 February 2012, government officials reported that a blast from a suicide bomb car attack close to the entrance to Kandahar University killed at least seven people and also wounded 23.448<\/sup><\/p>\n

In another case, Sunni students attacked Shiite students at Kabul University in late November 2012 to prevent them from observing Ashura \u2013 the festival of the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad \u2013 inside a dormitory mosque. Around 100 students were involved in the fighting, university buildings were damaged, one student was killed after being thrown out of a window and up to 30 were wounded.449<\/sup><\/p>\n

Attacks on education in 2013<\/h2>\n

According to the Ministry of Education, approximately 100 teachers and education officials were killed between January and August, some of them by assassination, others in roadside bombings and crossfire.450<\/sup>\u00a0In June, in one incident with heavy casualties, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives close to a boys\u2019 high school in Chamkani district, at going home time when ISAF and Afghan Local Police forces were passing, killing 10 students and injuring 15 others.451<\/sup>\u00a0The UN said tactics such as suicide bombings close to schools could be war crimes.452<\/sup>\u00a0In other incidents, UNAMA reported that a student was abducted and killed in May in Bak district, Khost province, after chanting an anti-Taliban song, and an education officer was shot and injured while visiting schools to monitor them in Kunar province in June;453<\/sup>\u00a0and in August, a teacher\u2019s home in the Sangin district of Helmand province was targeted \u2013 an explosive device was set off outside the house of a teacher who had previously received threats to leave his job, killing two children.454\u00ad<\/sup>\u00a0Three education administrators were also shot dead in Parwan, Uruzgan and Herat provinces by unknown gunmen in August.455<\/sup>\u00a0Schools and universities were threatened,456<\/sup>\u00a0set on fire457<\/sup>\u00a0or used as bases for combat,458<\/sup>\u00a0and there were continuing reports of alleged mass poisonings of schoolgirls,459<\/sup>\u00a0although there was no verification of whether poisoning took place.<\/p>\n

In May, the Taliban forced schools in Zabul province to close after the local government banned motorcycles as a security measure because they were being used in assassinations.460<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Endnotes:<\/div>\n
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395<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cAfghanistan Profile,\u201d BBC News, 13 March 2013.<\/p>\n

396<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cSecurity and Aid Work in Militia-Controlled Afghanistan,\u201d Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), 5 April 2013.<\/p>\n

397<\/sup>\u00a0See, for example: HRW, Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan (New York: HRW, July 2006); and Marit Glad, Knowledge on Fire: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan – Risks and Measures for Successful Mitigation (Afghanistan: CARE International, September 2009).<\/p>\n

398<\/sup>\u00a0United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Afghanistan Annual Report 2009 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, January 2010), 4.<\/p>\n

399<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Afghanistan Mid-Year Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, July 2012), 33.<\/p>\n

400<\/sup>\u00a0As stated in the methodology section, the statistical information on enrollment and literacy rates in profiled countries should be treated with caution, especially in the case of those countries that have experienced considerable disruption due to armed conflict, insecurity or instability. Though formally correct, such statistical data may contain outdated information and may not capture with full accuracy the actual educational situation of a country.<\/p>\n

401<\/sup>\u00a0The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) indicates the number of students enroled in a particular level of education regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population at the official age for a given level. It is therefore often a much higher figure than the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER), which represents the percentage of students enrolled at a particular level who actually belong to the official age group for that level. This study cites NER whenever possible, but for some countries and levels of education, GER is the only available figure and has therefore had to be used instead.<\/p>\n

402<\/sup>\u00a0UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), \u201cEducation (all levels) Profile – Afghanistan,\u201d UIS Statistics in Brief (2011).<\/p>\n

403<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cStatistics \u2013 Afghanistan,\u201d UNICEF, accessed on 26 December 2013.<\/p>\n

404<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/66\/782\u2013S\/2012\/261, 26 April 2012, para 16; and UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Bulletin 2009 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, July 2009), 8; \u201cKabul,\u201d Pajhwok Afghan News, 3 May 2012.<\/p>\n

405<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/64\/742\u2013S\/2010\/81, 13 April 2010, para 50.<\/p>\n

406<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cMilitants blast clinic, school in E Afghanistan,\u201d Xinhua, 2 May 2009.<\/p>\n

407<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/65\/820\u2013S\/2011\/250, 23 April 2011, paras 57 and 178.<\/p>\n

408<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, February 2013), 57; and UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/67\/845\u2013S\/2013\/245, 15 May 2013, para 31; UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/66\/782\u2013S\/2012\/261, 26 April 2012, para 16.<\/p>\n

409<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, February 2013), 57.<\/p>\n

410<\/sup>\u00a0Ibid., 57.<\/p>\n

411<\/sup>\u00a0Ibid., 67.<\/p>\n

412<\/sup>\u00a0\u2018Documented\u2019 means reported and put on file; \u2018verified\u2019 means independently assessed for reliability, e.g. visits to the location, interviews with victims, cross-checking with other information.<\/p>\n

413<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/67\/845\u2013S\/2013\/245, 15 May 2013, para 31.<\/p>\n

414<\/sup>\u00a0Marit Glad, Knowledge on Fire: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan – Risks and Measures for Successful Mitigation (Afghanistan: CARE International, September 2009), 1.<\/p>\n

415<\/sup>\u00a0Ibid., 9, 35, and 36; Antonio Giusto i and Claudio Franco, The battle for the schools: \u201cThe Taleban and state education (Afghanistan Analysts Network, August 2011), 7, 15; and Antonio Giusto i and Claudio Franco, The ongoing battle for schools: Uprisings, negotiations and Taleban tactics (Afghanistan Analysts Network, 10 June 2013), 12, 15.<\/p>\n

416<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, July 2012), 31.<\/p>\n

417<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, February 2013), 57-58; UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/67\/845\u2013S\/2013\/245, 15 May 2013, para 31; and Graham Bowley, \u201cTaliban Kill 5 Education Officials Near Border,\u201d New York Times, 8 May 2012.<\/p>\n

418<\/sup>\u00a0Antonio Giusto i and Claudio Franco, The Ongoing Battle for the Schools. Uprisings, Negotiations and Taleban Tactics (Afghanistan Analysts Network, 10 June 2013). This was also confirmed by several INGOs in Kabul during interviews with Brendan O\u2019Malley, September 2012.<\/p>\n

419<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and UNHCR, February 2013), 58. This was also confirmed by several INGOs in Kabul during interviews with Brendan O\u2019Malley, September 2012.<\/p>\n

420<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Bulletin on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 2009 (UNAMA, July 2009), 8.<\/p>\n

421<\/sup>\u00a0Haseeb Muslih, picture caption, Pajhwok Afghan News, 3 May 2012,\u00a0http:\/\/www.pajhwok.com\/en\/photo\/177438<\/a>.<\/p>\n

422<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cTwo blasts rock Afghanistan in weekend violence,\u201d The Hindu, 20 June 2010; \u201cSix children die in Afghan bomb blast,\u201d BBC News, 2 August 2010.<\/p>\n

423<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cBomb hits Afghan school bus, kills at least 9,\u201d Reuters, 20 October 2010.<\/p>\n

424<\/sup>\u00a0Agence France-Presse, \u201cGrenade Wounds 17 Afghan Schoolchildren,\u201d Relief Web, 3 July 2011; AFP, \u201cAfghanistan: 17 children wounded in grenade attack on school,\u201d NDTV, 3 July 2011.<\/p>\n

425<\/sup>\u00a0Haseeb Muslih, picture caption, Pajhwok Afghan News, 3 May 2012,\u00a0http:\/\/www.pajhwok.com\/en\/photo\/177438<\/a>.<\/p>\n

426<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/64\/742 S\/2010\/181, 13 April 2010, para 50.<\/p>\n

427<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Annual Report 2010 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, March 2011), 12.<\/p>\n

428<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/66\/782\u2013S\/2012\/261, 26 April 2012, para 16; UNAMA, Afghanistan Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 2011, 38.<\/p>\n

429<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Bulletin on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 2012 (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and UNHCR, July 2012), 32.<\/p>\n

430<\/sup>\u00a0Graham Bowley, \u201cTaliban Kill 5 Afghan Education Officials Near Border,\u201d New York Times, 8 May 2012.<\/p>\n

431<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report 2010 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, August 2010), 10; and Spiegel Online International, \u201cClosures after Taliban threats: German Army can\u2019t protect Afghan girls\u2019 schools,\u201d 18 May 2009.<\/p>\n

432<\/sup>\u00a0HRW, The 10-Dollar Talib and Women\u2019s Rights: Afghan Women and the Risks of Reintegration and Reconciliation (New York: HRW, July 2010), 12.<\/p>\n

433<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cTaliban Kill Afghan Girls\u2019 School Headmaster,\u201d Thomson Reuters, 25 May 2011.<\/p>\n

434<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Mid-Year Bulletin 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, July 2012), 31<\/p>\n

435<\/sup>\u00a0Hamid Shalizi, \u201cScores of Afghan Girls Ill in Third School Poisoning,\u201d Reuters, 12 May 2009<\/p>\n

436<\/sup>\u00a0\u201c94 More Afghan Schoolgirls Reportedly Poisoned in Sar-i-Pul,\u201d Threat Matrix, 24 June 2012; Zabihullah Ehsas, \u201cSchoolgirls, Teachers Poisoned in Sar-i\uffe2Pul,\u201d Pajwok Afghan News, 9 June 2010; and \u201c17 Takhar Schoolgirls Ill after \u2018Gas Attack\u2019,\u201d Pajwok Afghan News, 18 April 2013.<\/p>\n

437<\/sup>\u00a0School Safety Partners, \u201cOver 80 Afghan School Girls Fall Ill in Suspected Gas Poisoning,\u201d 25 April 2010.<\/p>\n

438<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cAfghan Arsonists Seek to Enforce Truancy from School,\u201d Thomson Reuters, 10 June 2012.439 Ali M Latifi, \u201cTorture alleged in Afghan poisoning arrests,\u201d Al Jazeera, 12 July 2012,\u00a0http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/asia\/2012\/07\/2012711105356413268.html<\/a><\/p>\n

439<\/sup>\u00a0Ali M Latifi, \u201cTorture alleged in Afghan poisoning arrests,\u201d Al Jazeera, 12 July 2012,\u00a0http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/asia\/2012\/07\/2012711105356413268.html<\/a><\/p>\n

440<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Mid-Year Bulletin 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, July 2012), 31.<\/p>\n

441<\/sup>\u00a0World Health Organisation, \u201cMass Psychogenic Illness in Afghanistan,\u201d Weekly Epidemiological Monitor, Volume 5, Issue 22, 27 May 2012; HRW, World Report 2013: Afghanistan (New York: HRW, 2013); and Ben Farmer, \u201cPoisonings\u2019 at Afghan girls\u2019 schools likely mass hysteria – not Taliban, says report,\u201d The Telegraph, 2 June 2012.<\/p>\n

442<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/65\/820\u2013S\/2011\/250, 23 April 2011, para 57.<\/p>\n

443<\/sup>\u00a0UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/66\/782\u2013S\/2012\/261, 26 April 2012, para 16.<\/p>\n

444<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, February 2013); and UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/67\/845\u2013S\/2013\/245, 15 May 2013, para 31.<\/p>\n

445<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA and OHCHR, Afghanistan Annual Report 2012 on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul Afghanistan: UNAMA and OHCHR, February 2013), 57; and UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A\/67\/845\u2013S\/2013\/245, 15 May 2013.<\/p>\n

446<\/sup>\u00a0Jon Boone, \u201cAfghan Insurgents Target Moderate Islamic University,\u201d The Guardian, 9 February 2011; and \u201cAfghanistan\u2019s Jalalabad University \u2018Hit by Bomb Attack\u2019,\u201d BBC News, 9 February 2011.<\/p>\n

447<\/sup>\u00a0Jon Boone, \u201cAfghan Insurgents Target Moderate Islamic University,\u201d The Guardian, 9 February 2011; and \u201cAfghanistan\u2019s Jalalabad University \u2018Hit by Bomb Attack\u2019,\u201d BBC News, 9 February 2011.<\/p>\n

448<\/sup>\u00a0Rahim Faiez, \u201cAfghanistan War: Suicide Attack Kills 7 Outside Kandahar University,\u201d Huffington Post, 7 February 2012.<\/p>\n

449<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cKabul Closes Universities after Sectarian Clashes,\u201d Radio Free Europe, 25 November 2012; Azam Ahmed, \u201cStudent killed in melee at Afghan university,\u201d New York Times, 24 November 2012; and Borhan Osman, \u201cAAN reportage: what sparked the Ashura Day riots and murder in Kabul University?\u201d 17 January 2013.<\/p>\n

450<\/sup>\u00a0Ghanizada, \u201c100 teachers and education officials killed in Afghanistan: MOE,\u201d Khaama, 10 August 2013.<\/p>\n

451<\/sup>\u00a0Bill Roggio, \u201cSuicide bomber kills 10 Afghan students, 2 US soldiers,\u201d The Long War Journal, 3 June 2013; \u201cAfghan school children killed in blast,\u201d Al Jazeera, 3 June 2013; Kay Johnson, \u201cAfghanistan suicide bombing: insurgent attacks US patrol outside busy market, killing 9 schoolchildren,\u201d Huffington Post, 6 June 2013; and Sardar Ahmad, \u201c10 children killed in Afghan suicide attack near school,\u201d AFP, 3 June 2013.<\/p>\n

452<\/sup>\u00a0Kay Johnson, \u201cAfghanistan suicide bombing: insurgent attacks US patrol outside busy market, killing 9 schoolchildren,\u201d Huffington Post, 6 June 2013.<\/p>\n

453<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cIED attack kills two children in Afghanistan\u2019s Helmand,\u201d IHS Jane\u2019s Terrorism Watch Report \u2013 Daily Update, 27 August 2013.<\/p>\n

454<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 2013 (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, July 2013), 21.<\/p>\n

455<\/sup>\u00a0Ghanizada, \u201c100 teachers and education officials killed in Afghanistan: MOE,\u201d Khaama, 10 August 2013.<\/p>\n

456<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cUS led forces bomb religious school in Afghanistan,\u201d Press TV, 21 April 2013;Az am Ahmed and Jawad Sukhanyar, \u201cDeadly Kabul bombing sends message on security pact vote,\u201d New York Times, 16 November 2013; and \u201cSecurity forces foil major attack on school in southern Afghanistan,\u201d Press TV, 27 August 2013.<\/p>\n

457<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 2013 (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, July 2013), 66.<\/p>\n

458<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA interview with village elders from Qush Tepa district, Sheberghan city, 22 May 2013, in UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 2013 (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, 30 June 2013), 35.<\/p>\n

459<\/sup>\u00a0\u201cUp to 74 school girls hit by gas attack in Afghanistan,\u201d RTE News, 21 April 2013.<\/p>\n

460<\/sup>\u00a0UNAMA, Afghanistan Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: 2013 (Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA, July 2013), 66-7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UN reported more than 1,000 attacks on education in 2009-2012, including schools being set on fire, suicide bombings and remotely detonated bombs, killings of staff, threats to staff and abductions. Given the challenges in collecting and verifying reports in Afghanistan, the true number may well be significantly higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,51,90,88],"tags":[555],"class_list":["post-5290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-child-rights","category-editor-selection","category-slider","tag-war-on-education","country-afghanistan","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5292,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions\/5292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}