By Pi James

NEW YORK, 11 March 2013 – On the eve of International Women’s Day, a panel of five experts representing academia, government, civil society and the United Nations called for an end to violence against girls through better and earlier monitoring and interventions, improved education systems, and a coordinated multi-sectoral response.

Millions of girls are vulnerable to violence around the world, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta said, opening the UNICEF-convened side event Girls Growing up Free of Violence: Promoting tolerance, equality and respect for the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York.

“Violence against girls is truly a cross-sectoral issue, and we are committed to working together towards a day when girls and women can live free of violence,” Ms. Rao Gupta said.

By Taleen Vartan

NEW YORK, USA, 31 July 2012 – Humanitarian emergencies – from natural disasters to war and conflict – devastate families, societies and nations. In times of crisis, the fundamental right of every child to a quality education is often most contested, and also most needed.

©UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2966/Shehzad Noorani
Haiti 2010

© UNICEF/SRLA2011-0158/Olivier Asselin, Sierra Leone, 2011
Portrait of a girl attending class in a Child Centered classroom at the Ahmadiyya muslim primary school in the village of Gbalahun, Kailahun district

By Rudina Vojvoda

NEW YORK, 9 February, 2012 – Currently, more than 1.5 billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected states. Children living among armed conflict are subject to violence, deprived of basic needs and robbed of developmental opportunities.

But there is a critical measure that can promote peace, even amid unrest: education.

A recent report, The Role of Education in Peacebuilding: A synthesis report of findings from Lebanon, Nepal and Sierra Leone, commissioned by UNICEF and written by Mario Novelli of the University of Sussex and Alan Smith of the University of Ulster, provides evidence that education can be a catalyst for peace and highlights the need for education sectors to integrate a peacebuilding perspective.

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© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1016/Christine Nesbitt
Kinkole Primary school near Kinshasa, DRC.

By Taleen Vartan

NEW YORK, USA, 31 January 2012 – In 2011, UNICEF commissioned research to investigate the role of education in peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts. The resulting report, entitled The Role of Education in Peacebuilding: A synthesis report of findings from Lebanon, Nepal and Sierra Leone, is part of a knowledge generation study within the Back on Track programme on Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition. Back on Track is a five-year partnership between UNICEF, the Government of the Netherlands and the European Commission.

© UNICEF Nepal/2011
A case study on Nepal is part of the UNICEF research project on Education and Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Contexts. Other case studies include Lebanon and Sierra Leone.

By Shimali Senanayake

NEW YORK, United States, 7 December 2011 – Education can play a key part in the prevention and transformation of violent conflicts. In an effort to investigate what role UNICEF can play to realize this mission, a team of researchers presented their global findings at a brown-bag discussion on Friday, titled “Education and Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected Contexts.”

By Priyanka Pruthi

GANTA TOWN, Liberia, 16 September 2011 – War, bullets and bloodshed – words which generations of Liberians are still more familiar with than books or schools. It’s only been eight years since the country knew peace; the scars from its paralyzing 14-year civil war remain visible as its people try to heal. Today, the government is working to rebuild the infrastructure that was completely destroyed – large parts of Liberia doesn’t have roads and millions are living without basic access to water, healthcare or electricity. But ask any Liberian what they need most and the answer is the same – education.