Ambassadorial-level meeting of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Education’s role in building peace in Nepal and Sierra Leone
Check Against Delivery
Mr. Chair, Deputy Secretary-General, distinguished briefers, excellencies,
Education and peacebuilding are mutually reinforcing, and form the basis for the well-being of future generations. Thank you for organizing this timely meeting.
Thank you also to the briefers for sharing your insightful experiences.
Let me congratulate Nepal and Sierra Leone on prioritising access to quality education and making strides in achieving its implementation. We commend Sierra Leone’s efforts to provide free school admission and tuition to all children, as well as Nepal’s rights-based approach to education. It is encouraging to hear how education has been leveraged for peacebuilding in your countries.
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As has been made clear by previous speakers, investing in youth and their education is also an investment in peace. Development cooperation related to the education sector should support states in their efforts to ensure equal access to quality education for their citizens. This can enhance resilience at the individual, household, community, and national level. And I would like to highlight the crucial contribution of Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW) in this regard.
Excellencies, let us also recall that making education accessible and promoting gender equality produce positive socioeconomic outcomes, and women and girls’ empowerment is associated with peace.
The Peacebuilding Commission can play a role in mobilizing the international community to address inequalities in education sectors, and as such contribute to sustaining peace. As it is, education actors are rarely part of peace processes, but their inclusion in peacebuilding is an opportunity we should not miss.
Unfortunately, in the midst of conflicts, schools are not always the safe space to learn and to play that children need. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has released data showing than 3,000 attacks on education were identified in 2022, which is a 17 percent increase from the previous year. This in spite of Security Council resolution 2601 from 2021. The PBC could use its advisory role to call on the Security Council to follow up on the resolution
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To conclude, investing in and protecting education is essential for building peace and preventing conflict.
I thank you.