S/RES/2601 (2021)
can make to ensure the immediate and long-term development of children, and
reiterating that access to inclusive, equitable and quality formal and non -formal
education are important factors that enable children and youth to acquire the relevant
skills and to build their capacities,
Expressing concerns that children account for many of those adversely affected
by armed conflict, including as refugees and internally displaced persons, and that the
disruption of access to education and future economic opportunities has a dramatic
impact on durable peace and reconciliation,
Expressing grave concern about the significant increase of attacks against
schools and education facilities in recent years and the alarming number of children
denied their right to education, as well as about atta cks on schools and their
infrastructure, rising instances of abduction of children, and the targeting of schools
for the purposes of abductions, as reported by the United Nations, the severity and
frequency of threats of attacks and attacks against schools and civilians connected to
schools, including children and teachers, the use of schools for military purposes, as
well as the immediate negative impact of attacks on the safety of students and their
ability to enjoy their right to education, with long-term negative consequences for
them as individuals, their families and their communities,
Acknowledging the disproportionate negative impact of the COVID19
pandemic, notably the socio-economic impact, and the adverse effects on children in
armed conflict and children formerly associated with armed groups and armed forces
who are undergoing reintegration assistance and noting the heightened risk for
children in armed conflict, of not resuming their education following school closures,
particularly girls, making them more vulnerable to child labor, child recruitment as
well as forced marriage,
Expressing deep concerns that girls and women may be the intended victims of
attacks targeting their access to and continuation of education, and expressing concern
about the specific consequences of such attacks including but not limited to incidents
of rape and other forms of sexual violence including sexual slavery, threats of attacks,
at school and on the way to and from school, abductions, forced marriage, human
trafficking, and any resulting stigma and grave consequences on their health, all of
which may further impede the continuation of their education,
Expressing deep concern that many children in armed conflict, in particular
girls, lack access to education owing to attacks and threats of attacks against schools,
damaged or destroyed school buildings, mines and explosive remnants of war,
insecurity, the prevalence of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence
against children, in and around schools and loss or lack of civil documentation,
Stressing that all parties to armed conflict must comply strictly with the
obligations applicable to them under international law for the protection of children
in armed conflict, including those contained in the Geneva Conventions of
12th August 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977 as well as in the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children
in armed conflict, welcoming the steps taken by a number of Member States to make
commitments to protect children affected by armed conflict, including the ratification
of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict,
Taking note of ongoing international and regional initiatives on Children and
Armed Conflict, including the international conference held in Paris in 2007 on
protecting children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups
and the follow-up conference held in Paris in 2017, and the commitments during the
conferences, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Chil d, and the
commemoration of the International Day to Protect Education from attacks,
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