Education for Internally Displaced Children

Internal displacement can jeopardize children’s right to education, in both protracted and emergency situations. IDP children, like all other children, have the right to education. The right to education is firmly established in human rights law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifying that primary education must be free and compulsory. Guiding Principle 23 stresses that the right to education “shall be made available to internally displaced persons … as soon as conditions permit.”
- Principle versus practice: Poverty and discrimination as barriers to the enjoyment of the right to education for internally displaced children

Yet in conflicts around the world, internally displaced children are without a meaningful way to exercise their right to education. For instance, Pakistani displaced children in 2009 lost many months of education. Schools were attacked in conflict areas, camps were crowded and camp managers struggled to provide adequate primary education or any education at secondary level. In host communities, many schools were used as shelter for IDPs, leaving displaced children and host community children without a place to learn.
- Still at risk: Internally displaced children's rights in north-west Pakistan - "Children's right to education"

Displacement can last years or even decades. In many protracted displacement situations, displaced children lack access to schools and can grow up without an education. In Turkey, for example, IDP children have access to school at lower rates than the general population; poverty and discrimination serve as barriers to meaningful education for these children.
- Principle versus practice: Poverty and discrimination as barriers to the enjoyment of the right to education for internally displaced children

The Future is Now: Education for Children in Countries Affected by Conflict,
Save the Children (UK), May 2010, Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies: http://www.ineesite.org/

Education can't wait

A video presentation from the Education Cluster


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