sa国际传媒

Millions of children around the world need a 鈥済lobal New Deal鈥� in 2017 to keep them safe and guarantee their right to an education.

Such an agreement聽would help to protect聽30 million children displaced by 40聽wars, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown said today.

At a summit on education in emergencies in Belgium, he added: 鈥�2016 will go down as the year in post-war history when it has never been more unsafe to be a child.

鈥淣ow it is time to put centre stage the civil rights struggle for children 鈥撀爁or an end to the casual and routine violation of children鈥檚 rights; for the right of boys and girls not to be in the front line of war; for schools not be used as instruments of war; for children鈥檚 rights to education to be upheld at all times, irrespective of borders;聽and for us to end exploitation in child labour, child marriage and child trafficking聽in favour of education.鈥�

Brown called on the UN, World Bank and other international institutions to sign up to a 鈥淣ew Deal鈥� for the world鈥檚 children in 2017 that would mean:

• All schools are protected as safe places
• Children are not used as weapons of war 鈥� particularly聽not as child soldiers
• Every refugee child鈥檚 right to education is upheld
• Every war crime and crime against humanity committed against children should be fully investigated

The Education in Emergencies Forum today in Brussels聽is hosted聽by the European Commission鈥檚 humanitarian aid and civil protection department.聽

It has brought together聽decision-makers, humanitarian experts and others to discuss how to聽support quality education for crisis-affected children.

Addressing the forum,聽Brown called for聽the International Criminal Court to act when children are the victims of attacks.

He said 500,000 children were under siege in Syria and Iraq 鈥� and evidence was mounting of a war crime against schoolchildren in Iblid, Syria, where .

The UN envoy聽said:聽鈥淣o child in Syria鈥檚 conflict zones is safe, not even in hospitals or the recently-opened underground classrooms.聽

鈥淭he evidence grows of war crimes against girls trafficked out of Libya. In Nigeria, millions of girls live in fear of Boko Haram and will not go to school.聽

鈥淲ith child marriage, child trafficking and child labour on the rise 鈥撀燼nd with thousands of girls having vanished on the routes from the sa国际传媒 to Europe 鈥撀爄t can now be more dangerous to be a girl or a boy out on the streets than a soldier in the trenches.

鈥淚nternational law is being routinely and casually violated with schools 鈥撀爓hich should be safe havens 鈥� becoming theatres of war and children, who should be in those safe havens, forced into the front-line of so many of the world鈥檚 civil conflicts.鈥�

On the potential New Deal for children, Brown said it was time to stop 鈥減assing the begging bowl鈥� to raise funds during crises.

He added:聽鈥淚t is surely time to urgently find a funding formula that will allow guaranteed support for refugees 鈥� and a chance for them not simply to have food and shelter but schooling too.

鈥淭his is all the more necessary because recent appeals for funds for education in emergencies have yielded so little return 聽less than 10% in Nigeria, DRC and Iraq and less than 1%聽in Burkina Faso, Chad and the Central African Republic.

鈥淭he answer must now lie in World Bank President Jim Kim鈥檚 laudable ambition to make his organisation the bank for the international system.聽

鈥淚 believe we can secure a new deal between the UN agencies and the World Bank to release the funds necessary for the safety and education of 30 million displaced children and 10 million refugee boys and girls.