A/71/205 Goals risks becoming a meaningless cliché. The Special Representative echoes the Secretary-General’s message that primary education should be compulsory and available to all refugee children, and that educational opportunities should be expanded. In that regard, a key achievement of the World Humanitarian Summit was the launch of the Education Cannot Wait Fund. On 23 May 2016, the Special Representative attended an event by the Global Business Co alition for Education during which the private sector announced its intention to mobilize $100 million for the Fund in financial and in-kind contributions. The Special Representative encourages Member States and other partners to further support initiative s aimed at helping displaced children to rebuild their lives. 18. While protecting displaced children and providing for health care and education are important steps, it is clear that strong leadership is needed by Member States to end conflict and create conditions conducive to sustainable return. Increased efforts should be made to identify long-term solutions that will mitigate the root causes and structural factors of displacement, provide support to displaced children and ensure family reunification, keeping in mind the best interests of the child. Only when children are reunited with their families, in a safe environment and with access to basic services, will they be able to flourish and fully contribute to the future of their society. Protection challenges posed by violent extremism 19. During the reporting period, children continued to be severely affected by violent extremism and were often the direct targets of acts intended to cause maximum civilian casualties and terrorize communities. The recruitment and use of children was a prevalent concern, with armed groups controlling large swaths of territory, leaving many civilians without Government protection and resulting in children being abducted and forcibly recruited. The conduct of Governme nt forces and their allies when retaking territory can also be a significant factor in the recruitment and use of children, since abuses and human rights violations can create or add to real or perceived grievances in the affected population as well as for cing civilians, including children, to seek protection from other parties to conflict. Social media also continues to be used for purposes of propaganda and to encourage recruitment of children, particularly outside areas affected by conflict. 20. In addition to recruitment, security responses by Member States, in particular during military operations, have also directly and indirectly affected children. The increased proliferation of airstrikes is of particular concern for the protection of children owing to the high number of civilian casualties. When responding to extreme violence, Member States should ensure that their rules of engagement take into account that a large number of children are associated with those groups and may have been placed on the front line, either in combat or as human shields. The Special Representative continues to emphasize that efforts to counter violent extremism must be carried out in full compliance with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Failure to abide by these obligations only worsens the suffering of the civilian population. 21. As noted in the Special Representative’s previous report to the General Assembly (A/70/162), children encountered in security operations are often treated systematically as security threats rather than victims. Increasingly, large numbers of children are being systematically arrested and detained in counter -terrorism 6/18 16-12896