(Geneva Call) – From 23 to 25 June, Geneva Call and Protect Education in Insecurity and Armed Conflict (PEIC) – a programme of the global “Education Above All” initiative – organized a workshop on the negative and positive obligations of armed non-state actors (ANSAs) regarding education in armed conflict, as well as the suitability of the international response. This was the first workshop to bring together policy-makers, child protection and education-in-emergency practitioners, researchers and three ANSA representatives from Burma/Myanmar, Sudan and Syria. It aimed to review the realities on the ground, identify gaps in knowledge and responses, and address challenges. The workshop took a comprehensive and inclusive approach, starting from the crucial argument that ANSAs are key stakeholders. Some ANSAs attack educational establishments and use schools for military purposes, whereas they can also facilitate and even provide education.
