In the past year, attacks on schools have increased by more than 200% compared to the two previous years in northwest Syria.
A new briefing prepared by Child Guardians and the White Helmets and launched today provides details of these attacks and their impact.
Our organisations have documented a total of 43 attacks on schools between September 2023 and September 2024, compared to only 8 attacks over the same periods in 2022-2023, and 10 attacks in 2022-2021.
The attacks from September 2023 to the mid of November 2024 have tragically led to the deaths of a child and a teacher and injured 9 children and another teacher.
Our briefing emphasises the deliberate nature of these attacks on schools – that the repeated attacks by the Syrian-Russian alliance on civilian infrastructure in populated areas, where there was no apparent military objective, suggests that these unlawful attacks were deliberate. It also outlines the impacts of these attacks including, physical and psychological harm, disruption of education, and displacement and dropouts.
We urgently call on the international community to activate accountability mechanisms for these attacks, including attributing crimes to their perpetrators and producing comprehensive reporting on violations against children. Local actors need support to document these attacks and collaborate with investigation committees. We want to see an expanded focus on violations of children’s rights in the next mandate of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the development of a national Safe Schools Declaration for Syria.
Child Guardians and the White Helmets
18th November 2024
