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The Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies hosted an online Humanitarian Talk as part of the first ever European Humanitarian Forum, held in Brussels 21-23 March. Ambassador Felix Baumann, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN, opened the event with a call for greater commitment to education in emergencies, “which remains an under-addressed and under-

As the world continues to evolve, new threats challenge our security: climate change, gender inequality, armed conflicts and more, no longer restricted to national borders. Hence, security needs to be understood not only as the absence of physical danger. We need to leave the realist theorist approach behind and consider the human, economic, and environmental dimensions of it.

Seven years into a deadly and devastating war, thousands of Yemeni parents are using what little they have left to fight for an untold victim of the country’s conflict: their childrens’ education.

The escalating conflict and ongoing military actions in Ukraine are putting children and adolescents at grave risk. The crisis is threatening the lives and wellbeing of an estimated 7.5 million girls and boys across the country, including potential profound disruptions to their education. We call for a strict adherence to International Humanitarian Law for civilians to be protected from harm.

An estimated 13 million children were affected by the closure of 5,500 schools at the end of 2021 in the Sahel region, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in its latest report. The Sahel region covers Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.

On January 10, Uganda reopened schools after the longest closure in the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. For most students, it was their first time back in the classroom in nearly two years.

The 10 crises and trends listed here have our attention – and should demand yours – in 2022. 

Immediately following the first all-women UN mission to Afghanistan since takeover by the de facto authorities, Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait – the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises – appealed to donors to significantly increase financial support for a robust collective humanitarian-development nexus response.

For decades, armed conflict, political repression and targeted campaigns against minorities have forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave the country. Now many more are expected to follow.

Soldiers and police have been deployed across schools in Eswatini where, for weeks now, students have been protesting to demand political reforms, according to pro-democracy groups. School students in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, formerly known as Swaziland, have been boycotting classes and staging low-key protests for the past month.