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Attacks on Education in Conflict, Post-Conflict and Non-Conflict Settings

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Women and Children as Victims and Offenders: Background, Prevention, Reintegration

Abstract

Despite growing calls for more accurate measurement and comprehensive reporting, the magnitude of attacks on education is under-researched. In addition, understanding attacks on education is further hindered by the exclusion of non-conflict (albeit often extremely violent) settings from analysis. Relying on available evidence and the authors’ own database, Attacks on Education, this chapter seeks to provide a concise exploration of the global magnitude of attacks on education. Drawing on the work of Wood (2012) we propose that understanding attacks on education requires disaggregating the phenomenon along four dimensions: frequency, targeting, repertoire, and purpose. Firstly empirically elaborating on the four dimensions, the chapter goes on to show the utility of the proposed framework by examining attacks on education carried out by the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This includes SCR 1261(1999), 1379 (2001), 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005), 1882 (2009), 1998 (2011), 2068 (2012), and 2143 (2014).

  2. 2.

    Here international law is seen to encompass International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Human Rights Law (IHRL), international criminal law (ICL), and customary international law.

  3. 3.

    The Attacks on Education Database is a collection of seven datasets: Attacks on Education Incidents dataset, by armed conflict and year (2008–2013); Repertoire Dataset (2008–2013); Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Dataset (March 2011–December 2014); Attacks on Education—Pakistan Dataset (March 2008–December 2014); Attacks on Education – Honduras Dataset (2007–2013); Attacks on Education – Colombia Dataset (2007–2013); Attacks on Education – United States Dataset (2001–2011).

  4. 4.

    It must be mentioned that in many parts of the world religious schooling is a key elements of the formal education system, and thus is included in our conceptualization of formal education.

  5. 5.

    For additional information, also see Save the Children 2013, p. 4 and GCPEA (2014a), p. 43.

  6. 6.

    As mentioned, the GTD database constitutes an exception; and adds to the frequency of attacks also their lethality.

  7. 7.

    “Attacks on Education Incidents Dataset, by armed conflict and year,” see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  8. 8.

    According to the GTD, terrorism is defined as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non‐state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation” (GTD 2014a, p. 8).

  9. 9.

    Including: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Central African Republic (CAR), Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Yemen and Zimbabwe. See GCPEA (2014a), p. 42.

  10. 10.

    Attacks on Education—Honduras Dataset (2007–2013); see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  11. 11.

    Here “at school” refers to deaths that occur on school property (primary, secondary or tertiary), on the way to or from regular sessions at school, and while attending or traveling to or from a school-sponsored event. Also see BJS (2014), p. 7.

  12. 12.

    “Identified non-state armed groups” refers to instances in which the public authorities have identified the assailants and/or when an armed group has claimed responsibility for an attack.

  13. 13.

    “Unidentified assailants” refers to instances in which the individual or group of individuals committing the attack was not identified by the public authorities and/or when no non-state armed group has claimed responsibility.

  14. 14.

    Attacks on Education—Pakistan Dataset (March 2008–December 2014), see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  15. 15.

    Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Dataset (March 2011–December 2014), See Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  16. 16.

    Research has shown that such attacks are prevalent in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Zimbabwe. See GCPEA (2014b), p. 8.

  17. 17.

    Attacks on Education—Colombia Dataset (2007–2013), see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  18. 18.

    Among the dead were also Omar Hashi Aden, Somali security minister, Abdikarim Farah, former Somali ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, and a number of other Somali diplomats. See BBC News (2009) and GCPEA (2014a), p. 14.

  19. 19.

    Between 1990 and 2012, there were 215 fatal school shooting incidents, resulting in 363 individuals killed. These were distributed as follows: 25 rampage shooting incidents (135 deaths), 142 targeted shooting incidents (179 deaths), and 48 other shooting incidents in schools (49 deaths); see Shultz et al. (2013).

  20. 20.

    Using both the Annexes and the body text of the Children in Armed Conflict Reports means that our dataset includes information on all types of violence a particular armed actor engages in, and not only on the systemic use of a particular form of violence that would put it on the Secretary-General’s list and trigger IHL. In addition, it must be mentioned that the dataset aims at describing patterns of violence, which, in turn, means that actors need to be mentioned on at least two occasions (i.e. two consecutive years) in order to be included in the dataset.

  21. 21.

    In line with current definitions in the field of civil war studies, pro-state militias are defined as groups that are (1) pro-government or sponsored by the government (national or subnational), (2) are not a part of the regular security forces, (3) are armed, and (4) are organized to some degree (Carey et al. 2013, p. 250).

  22. 22.

    That being said, the authors are working towards expanding the dataset back to 2000, when the first report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict to the Council was published.

  23. 23.

    At this point an occurrence of a particular form of violence is recorded (i.e. coded in the dataset) whenever it is made. No distinction between the degree of prevalence (i.e. how frequent it is) is mentioned. In other words, the dataset includes all reported incidents even if they have occurred (or been recorded) just once.

  24. 24.

    It has been recognized that the measurement or sexual violence, including rape and other forms of sexual assault, is one of the most challenging methodological issues in the field of both in times of conflict and non-conflict settings. See Carapic 2014; Fisher 2009.

  25. 25.

    Threatening actions may be symbolic (i.e. verbal) or physical (i.e. those that cause bodily harm but do not result in death, such as abductions or acid attacks on students/teachers).

  26. 26.

    Part of the reason for this increased focus on motives is that in many incidents since the Columbine shootings, perpetrators have referred to the event explicitly in their communications with media, personal diaries, or suicide notes (Larkin 2009).

  27. 27.

    In 2 of the 14 cases, students died while in police custody (Carapic and Dönges 2014).

  28. 28.

    The dataset includes confirmed attacks on education that have resulted in the death of students. With the exception of one, the other missing students have not been identified.

  29. 29.

    It is for this reason that attacks on schools by some armed actors have been called ‘terrorist’ acts (Muschert 2007, p. 64).

  30. 30.

    Although the insurgency emerged in 2009, it is largely believed that the group itself has been around for more than 15 years, albeit under different names (Adesoji 2010, pp. 98–100).

  31. 31.

    Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Education (March 2011–December 2014); see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  32. 32.

    Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Education (March 2011–December 2014); see Carapic and Dönges (2014); also see AI (2013), p. 6.

  33. 33.

    The authors would like to thank Dr Adam Higazi Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge for an interview on 19 August 2014.

  34. 34.

    Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Education (March 2011–December 2014), See Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  35. 35.

    The authors would like to thank Hannah Hoechner for providing generous background information on the state of education in Nigeria’s northern states. Hannah Hoechner is a Wiener Anspach Postdoctoral Researcher at the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and a Research Associate at the Oxford Department of International Development, UK.

  36. 36.

    Attacks on Secondary and Tertiary Education (March 2011–December 2014), see Carapic and Dönges (2014).

  37. 37.

    Interview with Dr Adam Higazi, 19 August 2014, Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge; also see ICG (2014), p. 17.

  38. 38.

    Allegedly, in 2012 the Nigerian government arrested about 100 Boko Haram family members (mostly women and children), including the wives of Abubakar Shekau, the group’s leader (HRW 2014b, p. 18; Watchlist 2014, p. 22; Zenn and Pearson 2014a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Small Arms Survey, Geneva, Switzerland

    Jovana Carapic

  2. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland

    Hannah Dönges

Authors
  1. Jovana Carapic
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  2. Hannah Dönges
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Correspondence to Jovana Carapic .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heuweiler, Germany

    Helmut Kury

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Sławomir Redo

  3. Zurich, Switzerland

    Evelyn Shea

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Carapic, J., Dönges, H. (2016). Attacks on Education in Conflict, Post-Conflict and Non-Conflict Settings. In: Kury, H., Redo, S., Shea, E. (eds) Women and Children as Victims and Offenders: Background, Prevention, Reintegration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08398-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08398-8_5

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