Resources
This page includes a curated list of resources about attacks on education, education in emergencies, and related topics from various education, development, humanitarian, and human rights organizations, as well as from academic researchers. It is intended to be a resource bank of advocacy, research, and response articles, reports, books, websites, datasets, and other relevant materials.
Report
★ Featured
This Guide contributes to advancing accountability for attacks on education amounting to crimes under international law. It provides information and practical guidance to national and international accountability mechanisms on how to enhance their capacity to conduct timely and effective investigations and prosecutions of education-related crimes over which they may have jurisdiction.
Jelia Sané
|
2025
GCPEA
Paper
★ Featured
Some attacks on education can be linked to climate, such as: looting of school canteens, attacks on schools used as temporary disaster relief shelters, and increased risks of explosives moving near schools after flooding. This briefing paper argues that the risks and impacts of climate change are critical to consider within any effort to prevent, mitigate, or respond to attacks on education.
Marika Tsolakis
|
2024
GCPEA
Report
★ Featured
A global study of threatened or actual use of force against students, education personnel, schools, and universities in 2022 and 2023.
Marston, Jerome; Pearce, Felicity; et al.
|
2024
GCPEA
Report
★ Featured
Assessment of the damage to schools and education facilities between late 2023 and early 2024 in Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory.
2024
Education Cluster - Occupied Palestinian Territory
Report
★ Featured
This report covers violations to the right to education, including attacks on schools and their military use, in the context of hostilities between Egyptian government forces and Islamic extremist armed groups in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
2024
Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
Report
★ Featured
Each year, non-state armed groups carry out attacks on schools and universities, and their students and staff, in conflicts around the world. This scoping paper provides background on the topic and explores global trends in non-state armed group attacks on education. The motivations and factors associated with these groups attacking, or in some cases safeguarding, education are considered.
Marston, Jerome; Tsolakis, Marika
|
2023
GCPEA
Report
★ Featured
This report documents the damage and destruction of schools and kindergartens in four Ukrainian regions during the first months of the fighting after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
2023
Human Rights Watch
Report
★ Featured
A global study of threats or deliberate use of force against
students, teachers, academics, education trade union members
and government officials, aid workers and other education staff,
and against schools, universities and other education
institutions, carried out for political, military, ideological,
sectarian, ethnic or religious reasons in 2019-2021.
Various Contributors
|
2022
GCPEA
Book
★ Featured
This Handbook is a practical and comprehensive guide to the relevant provisions of international law that protect education in situations of insecurity and armed conflict.
British Institute of International and Comparative Law
|
2020
British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
This report summarizes discussions at a workshop entitled “The role of humanitarian actors in safeguarding
access to education”, that aimed to improve humanitarian support for the continuity of education in areas affected by armed
conflict and violence, in line with the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, and in both the
short and long term.
2019
Education Above All, International Committee of the Red Cross
Paper
★ Featured
The Journal on Education in Emergencies aims to publish groundbreaking and outstanding scholarly and practitioner work on education in emergencies (EiE).
Burde, Dana (Ed.)
|
2018
Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
Paper
★ Featured
The paper seeks to assess the gaps and challenges in relation to accountability for education-related violations of international law.
Aloyo, Eamon; Connolly, David; Coster van Voorhout, Jill; Klanduch, Peter; Malik, Maleiha
|
2018
Education Above All
Paper
★ Featured
The Journal on Education in Emergencies aims to publish groundbreaking and outstanding scholarly and practitioner work on education in emergencies (EiE).
Burde, Dana (Ed.)
|
2017
Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
Report
★ Featured
This paper is intended to provide a preliminary look at a number of
innovations in the field of humanitarian information and communication
technology and their possible applications to the monitoring and
reporting of attacks on education.
Kalista, Jane
|
2015
Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political instrument that outlines a set of commitments to strengthen the protection of education from attack and restrict use of schools and universities for military purposes.
2015
Report
★ Featured
A report summarizing presentations and discussions during the PEIC International Seminar ‘Attacks on Education: Addressing the Data Challenge’ (June 2015), that aimed to advance understanding and share knowledge about the challenges facing data collection and analysis related to attacks on education and how these challenges might be addressed
Kalista, Jane
|
2015
Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
This study will review the development and evolution of the education and fragility agenda and examine how education in fragile contexts and as an intervention to interrupt those fragility dynamics presents a complex problem situated within a complex system for which our traditional approaches are not adequate.
Tebbe, Kirsten
|
2015
Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
This report covers Columbia University's in-depth study in Mogadishu, Somalia aiming to assess the current roles and capacities of the various education and protection actors for monitoring and reporting attacks on education in the capital.
Bennouna, Cyril; Boothby, Neil; Richard, Kinyera; Roberts, Leslie
|
2015
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
This report sheds further light on Columbia University's in-depth studies of attacks on education in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Mogadishu, Somalia in an attempt to fill information gaps
and contribute to the development of improved methodologies for monitoring and responding to such attacks.
Bennouna, Cyril; Boothby, Neil; Richard, Kinyera; Roberts, Leslie
|
2015
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Education Above All
Guidelines
★ Featured
The Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use of Schools and Universities
The Guidelines urge parties to armed conflict (both state armed forces and non-state armed groups) not to use schools and universities for any purpose in support of the military effort, with an aim to protect against the risk of armed forces and groups converting schools and universities into military objectives by way of military use and exposing them to the potentially devastating consequences of attack.
2014
Report
★ Featured
This report covers Columbia University's in-depth study in South Kivu province, DRC aiming to to assess the current roles and capacities of the various education and protection actors for monitoring and reporting attacks on education.
Bennouna, Cyril; Boothby, Neil; Nshombo, Marius; Richard, Kinyera; Roberts, Leslie
|
2014
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
A series of reports sets out to quantify the impact of armed conflict on education and seeks to arrive at estimates of the order of magnitude of the costs of conflict to education: both in terms of the human cost, represented by the number of Out of School Children, and the financial cost in terms of physical damage done to education structures and through loss of human capital.
Jones, Amir; Naylor, Ruth
|
2014
CfBT Education Trust, Education Above All
Book
★ Featured
This book explores the practical advice and guidelines that help support learning to live together, conflict transformation and peace at the individual, group and community levels.
Sinclair, Margaret (Ed.)
|
2013
Education Above All
Book
★ Featured
The study seeks to address the lack of attention paid to reparations for violations of international law during times of insecurity and armed conflict that affect education.
Capone, Francesca; Fairgrieve, Duncan; Hausler, Kristin; McCarthy, Conor
|
2013
Education Above All
Paper
★ Featured
The paper offers technical planning advice for high-level policy makers in ministries of education and donors in situations of conflict, recovering from conflict, or at risk of it, to share how education policies may contribute to continuing tensions and conflict, or help reduce these tensions.
Sigsgaard, Morten
|
2012
Education Above All
Book
★ Featured
The book examines the contribution that education for local, national and global citizenship and associated themes can make, even in countries where teacher training and classroom resources are limited.
Various Authors
|
2012
Education Above All
Paper
★ Featured
The paper examines the types of programmatic interventions, and the characteristics of successful programs addressing the problem of former child soldiers.
Burde, Dana; Guven, Ozen; Kapit-Spitalny, Amy
|
2010
Education Above All
Report
★ Featured
This guide looks at how to make education in emergencies more accessible for everyone, particularly those often excluded from education.
Pinnock, Helen
|
2009
INEE
Report
Based on 112 interviews, this report examines the impact of gang violence on children in Haiti. Documented abuses include violence against schools and students at, or en route to, school. Impacts of violence on children with disabilities are also considered in the report.
2025
Amnesty International
Paper
Based on a review of the literature, consultations with key informants, and examples of other indices, this report seeks to explore methodological options for complementing counts of attacks on education with a measure of their severity, combining different aspects of attacks on education into an index. The report proposes a feasible structure for a Severity Index of attacks on education, together with suggestions on how to populate the structure with existing data.
Bilal Barakat
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This background report aims to evaluate national normative frameworks for the protection of education from attack and the current data collection landscape for attacks on education in Cameroon. Efforts should be directed at adopting comprehensive policies and coordinated data collection mechanisms to ensure greater preparedness in responding to and preventing attacks on education in Cameroon.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This background report takes stock of the normative frameworks in place and the existing data collection landscape for attacks on education in Burkina Faso. Findings highlight that while significant progress has been made, efforts must be reinforced to improve the capacity of national authorities to monitor and respond to attacks on education in Burkina Faso.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
Based on a review of the literature and consultations with key informants, this report identifies key constraints on attacks on education data quality, promising practices, and general data quality assurance principles. Recommendations for strengthening data frameworks and practices are provided.
Bilal Barakat
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This report explores the legal and policy frameworks in place to safeguard education and mitigate threats in Nigeria, as well as the current data collection landscape for attacks on education. The findings reveal several promising policy practices, although data remains largely fragmented, highlighting a need to ensure greater coordination of data collection efforts and integration with national systems to better inform efforts to prevent and respond to attacks on education.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This report explores the legal and policy frameworks in place to safeguard education and mitigate threats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the current data collection landscape for attacks on education. The findings reveal several promising policy practices, although data remains largely fragmented, highlighting a need to ensure greater coordination of data collection efforts and integration with national systems to better inform efforts to prevent and respond to attacks on education.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This report assesses the current national policy framework and data collection landscape for attacks on education in Mali. While a draft law for the protection of education from attack has been developed, greater coordination is needed to improve the availability and quality of data to inform evidence-based interventions to safeguard education from attack.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Paper
This report offers an overview of policy and data landscapes for attacks on education in West and Central Africa. A fragmented data landscape in the region underscores the need for standardized reporting methods and increased collaboration to enhance data quality and strengthen the protection of education from attacks.
Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Report
This policy note highlights the impact of explosive weapons on children through the lens of the United Nations' Children and Armed Conflict agenda.
Ellis, Bethany
|
2024
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Paper
This report aims to examine the normative frameworks and data collection landscape for attacks on education in Niger. Findings highlight the need for coordinated efforts to improve the quality of data on attacks on education in Niger and enable a more effective response.
Marilou Baron and Lily Calaycay
|
2024
UNESCO
Guidelines
This guidance introduces a conceptual framework for risk identification and reduction in contexts with attacks on education.
Cartner, Holly
|
2023
GCPEA
Report
This report provides an overview and analysis of attacks on education in Ukraine between February and December 2022. Key findings include the prevalence of explosive weapons used in attacks, geographic trajectory of attacks, and the high number of attacks on schools compared to other forms of attacks on education.
Marston, Jerome; Tsolakis, Marika
|
2023
GCPEA
Report
This report documents and analyzes the swift uptick in and spread of attacks on education in Myanmar after February 2021. Key findings include the prevalence of explosive weapons used in attacks and the connection between the military use of educational facilities and subsequent attacks from rival forces or groups.
Various Contributors
|
2022
GCPEA
Report
This case study highlights some of the effects of violence on education in Palestine between
January 2019 and September 2021, based on an analysis of Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt)
Education Cluster data.
2022
GCPEA
Report
A composition of international datasets on violence in education.
Humanitarian Data Center
|
2022
Education Above All, OCHA
Report
This report by GCPEA describes the impact of the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration in various countries.
2022
GCPEA
Report
This policy brief calls attention to the experiences of girls and young women affected by attacks on education. For adolescent girls in particular, the longer-term impacts of attacks can be devastating.
2021
Plan International
Report
This report collects recent and historic examples of laws, court decisions, military orders, policies, and practice by governments, armed forces, non-state armed groups, and courts aimed at protecting schools and universities from use for military purposes.
Sheppard, Bede
|
2021
GCPEA
Case study
This case study uses GCPEA’s new Toolkit for Collecting and Analyzing Data on Attacks on Education to explore the effects of explosive weapons on education in Afghanistan, highlighting both shorter-and longer-term impacts.
2021
GCPEA
Guidelines
The Toolkit addresses the gaps in data collection, promotes inter-sectoral collaboration on data collection, analysis, and reporting, and strengthens and harmonizes definitions and concepts related to attacks on education.
2021
GCPEA
Report
This report documents attacks on students, education professionals, and schools allegedly carried out by armed Islamist groups in six regions of Burkina Faso between 2017 and 2020.
2020
Human Rights Watch
