Education is the hidden victim of war

Education is a primary, and often hidden, casualty of war, Reuters reported Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova as saying in an appearance in London yesterday.

According to Bokova, some three million children are out of school in Syria alone.

Bokova, a hopeful for the United Nations’ top job once Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands down later this year, added that world leaders must act to improve education in nations torn by war.

“Only two per cent of humanitarian aid goes to education,” she said. “It’s the hidden face of war.”

About 263 million children worldwide do not attend school, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). UNESCO estimates that more than a third of children out of school live in countries hit by armed conflict.

Speaking at an event hosted by Chatham House, a policy institute in London, Bokova maintained that the prevention of conflict and peace building should be the main focus of the next UN chief and said the global body should invest in diplomacy as well as peace keeping missions.

“Any peace keeping mission should be viewed as part of a larger political strategy,” she added.

Bokova listed violent extremism as the biggest threat to world peace and security but warned against fighting terrorism at the expense of democracy. “The two are not mutually exclusive.”

She acknowledged the UN’s limitations but argued: “I don’t see any better framework out there to find solutions to the world’s problems. Multilateralism is tedious, slow, but diplomacy is the only way so it has to go on.”