Monitoring and reporting attacks on education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia |
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| Authors: | Cyril Bennouna Elburg van Boetzelaer Lina Rojas Kinyera Richard Gang Karume Marius Nshombo Leslie Roberts Neil Boothby |
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| Affiliation: | 1. MPH is a Senior Advisor on Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the Center on Child Protection and Wellbeing, University of Indonesia, Indonesia;2. MPH is a Researcher with the Program on Forced Migration and Health, Columbia University, United States;3. MPH is a Reproductive Health Program Assistant at the International Rescue Committee, United States;4. MA is a Child Protection Advisor at Save the Children International, Afghanistan;5. MSc is the Country Coordinator at Rebuild Hope for Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo;6. BA is the Provincial Coordinator for South Kivu Province at Rebuild Hope for Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo;7. PhD is Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States;8. EdD is the Allan Rosenfield Professor and Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, United States |
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| Abstract: | The United Nations' Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism is charged with documenting six grave violations against children in a time of conflict, including attacks on schools. Many of these incidents, however, remain unreported across the globe. This study explores whether or not a local knowledge base of education and child protection actors in North and South Kivu Provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Mogadishu, Somalia, could contribute to a more complete record of attacks on education in those areas. Hundreds of semi‐structured interviews were conducted with key informants across the three settings, and in total 432 attacks on education were documented. Purposive samples of these reports were verified and a large majority was confirmed. Local non‐governmental organisations and education institutions were most knowledgeable about these incidents, but most never reported them to a monitoring authority. The study concludes that attack surveillance and response were largely insufficient, and recommends investing in mechanisms that utilise local knowledge to address these shortcomings. |
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| Keywords: | Democratic Republic of the Congo education grave violations human rights Somalia violence |
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