Slovakia to join Declaration on Safe Schools

The Declaration on Safe Schools provides countries with an opportunity to express their political will to improve the protection of students, teachers, schools and universities during armed conflict, reads a proposal for Slovakia to join the declaration approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The proposal was submitted to the Cabinet by Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák. "The measures include investigating and prosecuting war crimes concerning schools, the improvement of monitoring and reporting of attacks like this, accelerated resuming of access to education following attacks on schools and the use of a collection of instructions to minimise the misuse of schools and universities for military purposes, such as their transformation into military bases or barracks," reads the draft. The declaration on safe schools is an independent political document that was elaborated through international consultations led by Norway and Argentina. It was adopted at the Safe Schools Conference in Oslo on May 29, 2015. The conference was a reaction to the increasing number of military attacks at schools and universities. "The use of schools by military forces has become a global problem. In the period between January 2005-March 2015, armed forces misused educational institutions in at least 26 countries during armed conflicts in Africa, Asia, South America, Middle East, as well as in Europe," stated the proposal. The declaration has so far been supported by 56 countries, including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Slovenia, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Italy. The UN has expressed its support for it, too. The NGO Human Rights Watch called on Slovakia to join the declaration.