1 Military use of schools is not explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law. However, such use must be assessed in light of the obligations on parties to armed conflict to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects under their control against effects of attacks, the obligation to take special care in military operations to avoid damage to buildings dedicated to education, and rules affording special protection to children and their education in armed conflict situations. See Protocol Additional (I) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978) (AP I), Arts 52(2), 57(1), 58, 70, 77, 78; Protocol Additional (II) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 609, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978), Arts 4, 6, 28; Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 21 October 1950), Arts 14, 17, 23, 24, 38, 50, 82, 89, 94, 132; Henckaerts, Jean-Marie and Doswald-Beck, Louise (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 38CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Unless stated to the contrary, this article uses the term “armed conflict” as defined in international humanitarian law.

2 See Bart, Gregory, “The Ambiguous Protection of Schools Under the Law of War: Time for Parity with Hospitals and Religious Buildings”, Georgetown Journal of International Law, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2009Google Scholar; Sheppard, Bede and Kizuka, Kennji, “Taking Armed Conflict Out of the Classroom: International and Domestic Legal Protections for Students When Combatants Use Schools”, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2011CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sheppard, Bede and Knight, Kyle, “Disarming Schools: Strategies for Ending the Military Use of Schools during Armed Conflict”, Disarmament Forum, No. 3, 2011Google Scholar; Brooks, Melanie C. and Sungtong, Ekkarin, “Leading in Conflict Zones: Principal Perceptions of Armed Military Guards in Southern Thai Schools”, Planning and Changing, Vol. 45, No. 3/4, 2014Google Scholar; Coursen-Neff, Zama, “The Right to Education: Regulating the Conduct of Armed Forces Under International Law”, Harvard International Review, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015Google Scholar; Ferrelli, Ashley, “Notes: Military Use of Educational Facilities during Armed Conflict: An Evaluation of the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict as an Effective Solution”, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, Vol. 44, No. 2, 2016Google Scholar; Bennouna, Cyril et al. , “Improving Surveillance of Attacks on Children and Education in South Kivu: A Knowledge Collection and Sensitivity Analysis in the D. R. Congo”, Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2016CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Coursen-Neff, Zama, “Brave Educators Face Down Mortal Danger, But They Need Help”, International Educator, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2017Google Scholar. See also Becker, Jo, Campaigning for Children: Strategies for Advancing Children's Rights, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2017Google Scholar.

3 The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political commitment through which States express support for protecting students, teachers, schools and universities from attack during times of armed conflict, ensuring the continuation of education during armed conflict, and the use of a set of concrete measures set forth in the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict (Guidelines for Protecting Schools), intended to deter the military use of schools and to mitigate the negative consequences when such use does occur. The Safe Schools Declaration was developed through consultations with States in a process led by Norway and Argentina and opened for endorsement at the Oslo Conference on Safe Schools on 29 May 2015. It is available at: www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/departementene/ud/vedlegg/utvikling/safe_schools_declaration.pdf (all internet references were accessed in July 2019). The Guidelines for Protecting Schools were developed through a series of expert consultations from 2012 to 2014, and are available at: www.protectingeducation.org/sites/default/files/documents/guidelines_en.pdf. The Guidelines are not of legally binding nature and do not change the existing rules of international law. As of November 2019, 100 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration.

4 See, for example, legislation from Argentina, Bangladesh, Croatia, Ecuador, Greece, India, Malaysia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Nigeria (draft legislation), North Macedonia, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, and military policy or doctrine from the Central African Republic (CAR), Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Denmark, Ecuador, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Yemen, collated in HRW, Protecting Schools from Military Use: Law, Policy, and Military Doctrine, 29 May 2019, available at: www.hrw.org/report/2019/05/27/protecting-schools-military-use/law-policy-and-military-doctrine.

5 This article draws upon interviews, site visits and desk research used in reporting by HRW. Interview techniques may vary or be adapted to the individuals, situations and topics in any situation. Standard guiding principles for interviews are the need to ascertain the truth, to corroborate the veracity of statements, to protect the security and dignity of witnesses, and to remain impartial. Typically, interviews are conducted in private settings, in person with the researcher (often through an interpreter), and focus on the details of what occurred. For more on HRW's research methodology, see HRW, “About Our Research”, available at: www.hrw.org/about-our-research.

6 Compare also United Nations (UN) Security Council, Presidential Statement, UN Doc. S/PRST/2009/9, 29 April 2009 (“the use of schools for military operations”); UNSC Res. 1998, UN Doc. S/RES/1998 (2011), 12 July 2011, para. 4 (“the military use of schools”); and UN Security Council, Presidential Statement, UN Doc. S/PRST/2013/2, 12 February 2013 (“the use of schools for military purposes”).

7 This definition is the author's. It attempts to consolidate five efforts to define the practice, four of which the author contributed to: Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict, 2012, p. 20; GCPEA, Draft Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, 2014, p. 4; GCPEA, Lessons in War 2015: Military Use of Schools and Universities during Armed Conflict, 2015, p. 20; GCPEA, Commentary on the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, 2015, pp. 7–8. And see Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, Guidance Note on Security Council Resolution 1998, May 2014, pp. 10–11.

8 AP I, Art. 52(2); ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rule 8.

9 GCPEA, Education Under Attack: 2018, 2018, p. 39. The twenty-nine countries are Afghanistan, Burundi, the CAR, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, the DRC, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

10 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program uses a definition of armed conflict different from that used in international humanitarian law: “An armed conflict is a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year.” See Uppsala Conflict Data Program, “Definitions, Sources and Methods for Uppsala Conflict Data Program Battle-Death Estimates”, available at: https://ucdp.uu.se/downloads/old/brd/ucdp-brd-conf-41-2006.pdf.

11 For example, soldiers entered School No. 4 in Krasnohorivka, Ukraine, one Saturday in either late August or early September 2014, and told the teachers who tried to return to school that they could not enter their school because it was now a military site. They made the teachers stand on the roadside, and delivered their personal belongings to them. HRW interviews with four teachers, School No. 4, Krasnohorivka, 6 November 2015. When the author visited Asma'a School in Sanaa, Yemen, soldiers from the First Armoured Division were living in two of the school's three buildings, causing overcrowding for the girl students in the remaining building. Author site visit, 31 March 2012. One of the schools run by Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala Yousafzai, was occupied and used by Pakistani government forces while he and his family were displaced by the fighting in and around their hometown. Yousafzai, Malala, I am Malala: The Schoolgirl Who Stood Up to the Taliban, Orion, London, 2013Google Scholar; “Class Dismissed: Malala's Story”, New York Times, documentary, 2009.

12 HRW interview with official, Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science, November 2015. On file with author.

13 HRW interview with Abdul Hayi, Karachi, 22 September 2016. On file with author.

14 HRW interview with school official, Pul-e Khumri, Afghanistan, 24 April 2016. On file with author.

15 Bede Sheppard, “Some Things Don't Mix”, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 24 April 2012.

16 GCPEA, Education Under Attack, above note 9, p. 39.

17 Ibid., pp. 263–265.

18 For example, an Afghan school official explained a common rationale: “Most of the houses in our area are mud houses, so the soldiers took control of … the school, which was built out of concrete.” HRW interview with school official, Pul-e Khumri, Afghanistan, 25 April 2016. On file with author.

19 GCPEA, Lessons in War 2015, above note 7; see also Geneva Call, “In Their Words: Armed Non-State Actors Share Their Policies and Practice with Regards to Education in Armed Conflict”, November 2017, pp. 10–12; Parker, Sara, Standing, Kay and Pant, Bijan, “Caught in the Cross Fire: Children's Right to Education During Conflict – The Case of Nepal 1996–2006,” Children & Society, Vol. 27, No. 5, 2013, p. 375CrossRefGoogle Scholar; HRW interview with Grisada Boonrach, Governor, Yala, Thailand, 29 March 2010.

20 B. Sheppard, above note 15.

21 For more examples, see GCPEA and Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, Implementing the Guidelines, 2017, pp. 18–19.

22 HRW interview, 16 February 2017. On file with author.

23 For example, on 23 April 2003, US soldiers took over a primary school near the centre of Fallujah, Iraq. Schools were scheduled to reopen on 29 April and tensions ran high as parents wanted the soldiers to leave. The troops were open to moving, but before they could withdraw, residents demonstrated outside the school. The demonstration turned violent and the US soldiers opened fire on the protesters, killing seventeen and wounding more than seventy. See HRW, Violent Response: The U.S. Army in Al-Falluja, 2003.

24 General Commander of the Military Forces, Military Order No. 2010124005981/CGFM-CGING-25.11, 6 July 2010.

25 See, for example, UNSC Res. 1998, UN Doc. S/RES/1998 (2011), 2011 (“The Security Council … requests the Secretary-General to monitor and report … on the military use of schools in contravention of international humanitarian law”); UNSC Res. 2427, UN Doc. S/RES/2427 (2018), 9 July 2018 (“The Security Council … calls upon United Nations country-level task forces to enhance the monitoring and reporting on the military use of schools”).

26 Winthrop, Rebecca and Kirk, Jackie, “Learning for a Bright Future: Schooling, Armed Conflict, and Children's Well-Being”, Comparative Education Review, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2008CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Heninger, Lori, “Education in Emergencies: Life-Saving, Life-Sustaining, Conflict Mitigating”, in Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book 2011, 2011, p. 244Google Scholar; Susan Nicolai and Carl Triplehorn, The Role of Education in Protecting Children in Conflict, Overseas Development Institute, Humanitarian Practice Network Paper No. 42, March 2003; Boothby, Neil and Melvin, Charles, “Towards Best Practice in School-Based Psychosocial Programming: A Survey of Current Approaches”, in Mollica, Richard (ed.), Refugee Mental Health Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, TN, 2008Google Scholar; Smith, Alan and Vaux, Tony, Education, Conflict, and International Development, DFID, London, 2003Google Scholar; Sinclair, Margaret, “Education in Emergencies”, in Crisp, Jeff, Talbot, Christopher and Cipollone, Daiana (eds), Learning for a Future: Refugee Education in Developing Countries, UNHCR, Geneva, 2001Google Scholar.

27 See ICRC, “Ukraine: The Threat of Mines and Unexploded Shells Continues”, 5 April 2016, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/ukraine-landmines-mine-awareness-day.

28 Examples of this can be found in the section on “Gendered Impact” below. See also GCPEA, “I Will Never Go Back to School”: The Impact of Attacks on Education for Nigerian Women and Girls, 2018, pp. 39–44; GCPEA, “All That I Have Lost”″: Impact of Attacks on Education for Women and Girls in Kasai Central Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2019, pp. 24–29.

29 For example, in 2012, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Education Cluster in South Sudan estimated that rehabilitating a primary school with eight classrooms after a period of occupation, replacing windows, doors, furniture and learning materials, and re-digging pit latrines, costs approximately $67,000. Global Education Cluster, South Sudan, “Briefing Note: Occupation of Schools by Armed Forces”, 2012.

30 HRW, No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia, 2012, pp. 67–68.

31 HRW site visit and interviews, 6 January 2016. On file with author.

32 HRW interview with school official, Pul-e Khumri, Afghanistan, 24 April 2016. On file with author.

33 HRW telephone interviews with five students and three teachers, Taizz, Yemen, 22–23 October 2011.

34 HRW telephone interview with student, Taizz, Yemen, 23 October 2011.

35 HRW telephone interviews with students and teachers, Taizz, Yemen, 22–23 October 2011.

36 HRW telephone interviews with two teachers and a doctor, Taizz, Yemen, 25–26 October 2011.

37 HRW interview with student, Pattani, Thailand, 30 March 2010. On file with author.

38 HRW interview with prefect, Goma, DRC, 28 June 2013.

39 HRW, “Philippines: Soldiers on the School Grounds: Armed Forces Should Cease Military Use of Schools”, press release, 30 November 2011.

40 HRW, above note 30.

41 HRW visit to Institut Bweremana, DRC, 11 July 2013.

42 HRW interviews and visit, October 2014.

43 HRW interview with principal, Bihar, India, 14 June 2009.

44 UNESCO, Education For All Global Monitoring Report – The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education, 2011, p. 132.

45 HRW interview with school official, Pul-e Khumri, Afghanistan, 24 April 2016.

46 HRW interview with student, Bihar, India, 12 June 2009.

47 See also M. C. Brooks and E. Sungtong, above note 2.

48 HRW interview with student, Ngadja, CAR, 24 January 2017.

49 HRW interview with parent, Pattani, Thailand, 30 March 2010.

50 HRW interview with army official, Pattani, Thailand, 27 March 2010.

51 HRW interview with student, Bihar, India, 12 June 2009.

52 Ibid.

53 Swat Education Department, “Wholly Illegally Occupied Schools”, September 2016, available at http://sed.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Wholly-Occupied-Sept-2016.pdf.

54 HRW, Studying Under Fire: Attacks on Schools, Military Use of Schools during the Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine, February 2016, pp. 52–55.

55 UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011, 2011, pp. 132–133.

56 HRW interview with school official, Sanaa, Yemen, 26 March 2012.

57 HRW interview with student, Pattani, Thailand, 30 March 2010.

58 HRW interview with parent, Pattani, Thailand, 30 March 2010.

59 For example, HRW interviews with student, Bihar, India, 12 June 2009; and teacher, Jharkhand, India, 2 June 2009.

60 For historical examples, see HRW, above note 4.

61 UK Ministry of Defence, Joint Service Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Joint Service Publication 383, 2004, para. 15.18.

62 General Commander of the Military Forces, above note 24.

63 Order of Lieutenant-General Obuto Mamur Mete, Deputy Chief of General Staff for Moral Orientation, 16 April 2012.

64 General Order of General James Hoth Mai, Chief of General Staff, 14 August 2013.

65 Minister of Defence Alexandre Luba Ntambo, Ministerial Directive on the Implementation of the Action Plan, No. VPM/MDNAC/CAP/0909/2013, May 2013.

66 Act Providing for the Special Protection or Children in Situations or Armed Conflict and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof, Republic Act 11188, 10 January 2019, Sections 5(e), 9(b)(9).

67 See, for example, HRW, “Philippines: Soldiers on the School Grounds”, news release, 30 November 2011; Jake Scobey-Thal, “We Told the Children Not to Enter”, Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, 31 January 2012; B. Sheppard, above note 15.

68 Declaration signed by President of Syrian Opposition Coalition and Chief of Staff of Supreme Military Council, Free Syrian Army, 30 April 2014.

69 National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Declaration of Commitment on Compliance with IHL and the Facilitation of Humanitarian Assistance, 2014.

70 Ezidkhan Protection Forces, Declaration on the Commitment to Respect Humanitarian Norms during and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict or Military Operations, 12 December 2018; Ninewa Guards, Declaration on the Commitment to Respect Humanitarian Norms during and in the aftermath of Armed Conflict or Military Operations, 12 December 2018. English translations provided to author by Geneva Call.

71 Geneva Call, Deed of Commitment under Geneva Call for the Protection of Children from the Effects of the Armed Conflict, 2010.

72 Agreement between the Government of Sudan and Sudan People's Liberation Movement to Protect Non-Combatant Civilians and Civilian Facilities from Military Attack, 2002, Art. 1.

73 Comprehensive Peace Agreement concluded between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), 2006, Art. 7.5.4.

74 Decision of the Government of Nepal, 25 May 2011; Ministry of Education, “Schools as Zones of Peace National Framework and Implementation Guideline”, 2011.

75 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Ethnic Armed Organizations, 2015, Sections 5, 9.

76 Resolution of Intra Afghan Peace Conference, Doha, Qatar, 8 July 2019, provisions 5(b–c).

77 UN Secretary-General, Children and Armed Conflict, UN Doc. S/2000/712, 2000, p. 17.

78 UN Secretary-General, Children and Armed Conflict, UN Doc. S/2006/826, 2006.

79 UNSC Res. 1998, UN Doc. S/RES/1998 (2011), 12 July 2011, para. 4.

80 UNSC Res. 2143, UN Doc. S/RES/2143 (2014), 7 March 2014, para. 18(d); UNSC Res. 2427, UN Doc. S/RES/2427 (2018), 9 July 2018, para. 16(d).

81 UN General Assembly Resolutions on “The Right to Education in Emergency Situations”, UN Doc. A/64/L.58, 30 June 2010 (“[The General Assembly,] reminding all parties to armed conflict of their obligations under international law to refrain from the use of civilian objects, including educational institutions, for military purposes … [u]rges all parties to armed conflict to fulfil their obligations under international law … in particular their applicable obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including to respect … civilian objects such as educational institutions”); on “The Rights of the Child”, UN Doc. A/RES/70/137, 7 December 2015 (“The General Assembly … expresses its concern that the military use of schools in contravention of applicable international humanitarian law may also affect the safety of children and teachers and the right of the child to education, and encourages all States to strengthen efforts in order to prevent the military use of schools in contravention of applicable international humanitarian law; [and c]alls upon States … to refrain from actions that impede children's access to education”); on “Strengthening or the Coordination of Emergency Humanitarian Assistance of the United Nations”, UN Doc. A/RES/72/133, 11 December 2017, para. 38 (“[The General Assembly] reaffirms the right to education for all … [and] strongly condemns … the use of schools for military purposes, when in contravention of international humanitarian law”); and on “United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Review”, UN Doc. A/RES/72/284, 2 July 2018, para. 33 (“[The General Assembly] condemns the failure to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects against the effects of attacks when using civilian objects, in particular schools …[,] for military purposes such as launching attacks and storing weapons”).

82 UNSC Res. 2225, UN Doc. S/RES/2225 (2015), 18 June 2015. See also UNSC Res. 2427, UN Doc. S/RES/2427 (2018), 9 July 2018.

83 Analysis of reports by the author and Alex Firth.

84 The GCPEA found that incidents decreased in six of the twelve countries (Afghanistan, the CAR, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan); reported incidents remained the same in two countries (Palestine and Sudan); and only Niger saw an increase during the same time period. Reports of military use of schools were few and infrequent in Kenya, Lebanon and Mozambique, and the GCPEA was thus unable to determine any increase or decrease in these countries during 2015–18. GCPEA, “Practical Impact of the Safe Schools Declaration: Fact Sheet”, October 2019.

85 The Safe Schools Declaration has also been used as a tool by non-military government officials to attempt to influence military behaviour. See, for example, letter from Cameroon's Minister of Basic Education to Governor of the Far North Region, 30 November 2017, available in HRW, above note 4.

86 Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norwegian Minister of Defence, quoted in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Report of the Oslo Conference on Safe Schools, Oslo, 2015, p. 19.

87 Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), “Directive on the Protection of Schools and Universities against Military Use”, MINUSCA/OSRSG/046/2015, 24 December 2015.

88 Presentation of Lieutenant-Commander Tasnuva Anan, Bangladesh Navy, then serving with MINUSCA, 8 November 2016, at Addis Ababa Workshop on Strengthening the Role of Armed Forces in the Protection of Education from Attack and Educational Institutions from Military Use during Armed Conflict in Africa, organized by the governments of Norway, Sierra Leone and Zambia, and the GCPEA.

89 GCPEA, Report of the Addis Ababa Workshop on Strengthening the Role of Armed Forces in the Protection of Education from Attack and Educational Institutions from Military Use during Armed Conflict in Africa, 2017, p. 10.

90 Danish Ministry of Defence, Military Manual on International Law Relevant to Danish Armed Forces in International Operations, September 2016, pp. 87, 73, 195, 422.

91 HRW, above note 4.

92 New Zealand Defence Force, Manual of Armed Forces Law: Law of Armed Conflict, DM 69, 2nd ed., Vol. 4, 8 January 2019, Section 14.8.3.

93 Letter from Brigadier Kevin Riordan, Director-General, Defence Legal Services, New Zealand Defence Forces, to Bede Sheppard, HRW, 21 April 2011, available at www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/schools-newzealand.pdf; see also HRW, Schools and Armed Conflict: A Global Survey of Domestic Laws and State Practice Protecting Schools from Attack and Military Use, 2011.

94 Compare, for example, Guideline 4 with the draft manual's proposal that if the use of a school by an opposing force turns a school into a military objective, then “wherever possible the commander of a New Zealand force is to demand that the opposing force cease its military use of the property within a reasonable time and may only attack the objective if the opposing force fails to do so. … [I]n planning an attack on a military objective which is, or may include, educational institutions which have lost their protection, the commander of the New Zealand force is to take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack to avoid or minimise incidental loss to such property and is not to attack where the damage to such property would be excessive in relation to the direct military advantage anticipated from the attack considered as a whole.” This author was also involved in the expert consultations assisting the drafting of the Guidelines and can attest to the influence of the New Zealand draft manual in the drafting process.

95 Swiss Armed Forces, Rechtliche Grundlagen für das Verhalten im Einsatz (Military Manual on Behaviour during Deployment), 2005, addition of 1 May 2019, translation in English available in HRW, above note 4: “Educational institutions are to be treated with particular caution. … Their military use should be avoided.”

96 Palestinian National Security Forces in Lebanon, Code of Conduct, 20 March 2019, Part 6, Art. 5: “The leadership of the Palestinian National Security Forces is committed to protecting … schools and universities during armed violence and clashes. Equally, the civilian character of … educational facilities should be preserved at all times. No attack on such facilities should be tolerated and concrete measures should be taken to avoid the military use of such institutions.” English translation provided to the author by Geneva Call. For another effort to protect schools from military use in Lebanon, see the written assurances from Palestinian armed groups operating in the Ain al-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) that they would not violate the neutrality of UNRWA's facilities, following days of fighting between rival Palestinian factions in early 2017, during which some UNRWA schools were occupied; HRW, above note 4.

97 Italy: Policy Commitments 207055 and 207069, World Humanitarian Summit, 2016; Luxembourg: Policy Commitment 213039, World Humanitarian Summit, 2016; and Slovenia: letter from Darja Bavdaž Kuret, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia, to Tore Hattrem, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway, 12 April 2016.

98 Proposed Amendment to Armed Forces Act, submitted by Ministry of Education-led Education in Emergencies Working Group Nigeria to Minister of Defence, 5 December 2018, Section 216(3) (“No premises or building or part thereof occupied for educational purposes or accommodation of persons connected with the management of school or vehicles and other facilities of educational institutions shall be requisitioned”), in letter from Nkiru Cynthia Osisioma, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Education, to Minister of Defence, 5 December 2018. On file with author.

99 Letter from Minister of Education to cabinet ministers and others, No. 0501/MEN/SG, 19 March 2019; Ministry of Education, Decision No. 2019-000481-MEN-SG, 22 February 2019. Both on file with author.

100 Author's analysis of dates of concrete measures to protect schools or universities from military use, collected by author for HRW, above note 4.

101 Guidelines for Protecting Schools, above note 3, Guideline 6.

102 Safe Schools Declaration, above note 3, first commitment.