{"id":7891,"date":"2017-06-03T12:29:51","date_gmt":"2017-06-03T10:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=7891"},"modified":"2017-06-03T15:50:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T13:50:36","slug":"interview-act-now-or-by-2030-millions-could-be-graduating-from-schools-without-even-basic-education-warns-un-envoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2017\/06\/interview-act-now-or-by-2030-millions-could-be-graduating-from-schools-without-even-basic-education-warns-un-envoy\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: \u2018Act now,\u2019 or by 2030, millions could be graduating from schools without even basic education, warns UN envoy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/aiweiwei_0512.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7892\" src=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/aiweiwei_0512.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/aiweiwei_0512.jpg 525w, https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/aiweiwei_0512-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>20 April 2017 \u2013 The ground-breaking, United Nations-backed International Finance Facility for Education is vital to ensure that half of the world\u2019s children don\u2019t miss out on the basic schooling needed to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (<a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/sdgs\">SDGs<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the view of the UN <a href=\"http:\/\/educationenvoy.org\/\">Special Envoy for Global Education<\/a>, Gordon Brown, who said yesterday in an interview with <em>UN News<\/em> that \u201ceducation has been neglected for too long\u201d and the international community needs to \u201cact now\u201d through a new Financing Compact between developed and developing countries.<\/p>\n<p>Sustainable Development <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/sdg4\">Goal 4<\/a> commits countries to provide \u201cinclusive and quality education for all\u201d and yet if current trends continue, more than 800 million young people will be leaving school in 2030, without even a basic education, said Mr. Brown.<\/p>\n<p>He said the new Finance Facility would unlock nearly $10 billion annually for new education investments, help meet the SDG 2030 deadline, and deliver the right of every girl to an education \u201cfree from exploitation, child marriage, child labour and child trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The envoy, who is former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that currently, only $8 per child is spent on educational aid to the poorest countries, \u201cbarely enough in aid to pay for a text book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cA new approach is essential [\u2026] Of all the investments we make, education is the longest term need with children requiring 12 years of consistent, sustained and uninterrupted funding,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hero-unit-embed\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yPTaq249t8Q\" width=\"100%\" height=\"329\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5><strong>VIDEO<\/strong>: Speaking to UN News, Special Envoy Gordon Brown says that &#8220;education has been neglected for too long,&#8221; calling for the creation of a new financing compact between developed and developing countries.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the Finance Facility \u2013 inspired by the highly successful Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries initiative and Global Funds for health and immunization \u2013 will be presented at the upcoming World Bank annual meetings, Mr. Brown said, adding that a new Inquiry on Protecting Children in Conflict \u2013supported by Save the Children UK and Theirworld \u2013 would also be launched this week.<\/p>\n<p>It would build on the work of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and complement the mission of long-term investment in education, as so many of the countries deprived of functioning classrooms were also conflict zones, he said.<\/p>\n<p>With \u201cmoral lines\u201d having been crossed so clearly, as with last week\u2019s purported chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria \u2013 and the deliberate bombing of schools there \u2013 more robust legal protection was needed, said the envoy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think that we need to look at international law, see whether perhaps even an International Criminal Court for children\u2019s issues should be set up; see whether we can strengthen domestic laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A leading London-based lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, will be conducting a legal review to \u201clook at whether we can actually make recommendations that would strengthen the protection of children who are in these conflict zones\u201d said Mr. Brown, who will chair the Inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>Discussing his new initiatives with journalists at UN Headquarters on Wednesday, the Special Envoy said that \u201conly when international law is robust enough [\u2026] to secure accountability for children\u2019s rights will we have done all in our power to ensure that no child of God will ever again suffer the horrors of Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we ask ourselves what breaks the weak, it is not just the Mediterranean wave that submerges the life vest, nor the food convoy that does not make it to the besieged Syrian town. It is the absence of hope \u2013 the soul-crushing certainty that there is nothing ahead to plan or prepare for, not even a place in school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"hero-unit-embed\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/318658926&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><strong>AUDIO<\/strong>: UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown on the importance of prompt action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>20 April 2017 \u2013 The ground-breaking, United Nations-backed International Finance Facility for Education is vital to ensure that half of the world\u2019s children don\u2019t miss out on the basic schooling needed to meet the 2030 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,19,90,85,65,48,10],"tags":[719,718,720],"class_list":["post-7891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-child-rights","category-citizens-and-civil-society","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-others","category-war-and-peace","category-world","tag-2030-sustainable-development-goals","tag-children-and-armed-conflict","tag-school","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7891","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7894,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7891\/revisions\/7894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}