Fighting in and around Tripoli shuts 210 schools, depriving over 115,000 children of their education - UNICEF
6 January 2020 – The recent escalation of violence in and around Tripoli, Libya, has taken a devastating toll on children’s education, with five schools destroyed and 210 schools shuttered, pushing over 115, 000 children out of school in the Ain-Zara, Abu Salim and Soug al Juma’aa areas.
On 3 January, four schools came under attack in the Soug al Jum’aa locality, east of Tripoli, causing extensive damage and affecting nearly 3,000 students.
Recent attacks on educational facilities and overall insecurity in and around Tripoli are putting children’s lives on the line just by going to school each day. No parent should ever have to choose between their children’s education or their safety. Rather than safe places to learn and to grow, schools in Tripoli have become places of fear.
Children who are out of school are at a heightened risk of violence and recruitment into the fighting.
Education is a basic right for every single child– even in areas affected by conflict. Attacks on education facilities are a grave violation against children’s rights, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. Depriving children of the opportunity to learn has a devastating impact on their wellbeing and future.
UNICEF calls on parties to the conflict in Libya to protect children at all times, stop attacks against schools and to refrain from violence including indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
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