Humanitarian Coordinator calls for children’s safe access to education in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

In today’s visit to the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Old City of Hebron, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, James W. Rawley, together with diplomats from five countries and the European Union, as well as representatives from Save the Children and UNICEF, learned first-hand about the extraordinary challenges children face in accessing safe and quality education by speaking to students, teachers, parents, authorities, and relevant organizations.

In Jerusalem, a visit was conducted to a school where students and teachers described their experience of harassment to and from school, forced entry by security forces onto school grounds, detention of students, lengthy house arrests, and physical abuse, including a student who was shot by rubber bullets while drinking from the school water fountain.

In Hebron, the delegation walked through some of the 18 permanent checkpoints which students and teachers must cross daily, and where they are often subjected to bag or body searches, long waiting times, harassment or detention.

Incidents involving school children and schools almost tripled in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from 2013 to 2014, affecting nearly 25,000 Palestinian children in 2014. Affected children grow up exposed to violence from an early age and many suffer from emotional and psychological distress, including experiencing recurrent nightmares and bed-wetting. Over 77 per cent of students in Hebron showed symptoms of moderate to severe post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a recent study.

“To safeguard the rights of children to education, schools need to be inviolable safe spaces for children, restrictions to access removed, and measures taken to avoid conflict or confrontation”, Mr. Rawley said. “Every child has the right to protected access to education. Israeli authorities must ensure that this right is fulfilled, and that those responsible for attacks against defenceless children are brought to account”, he concluded.

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For more information, please contact Ms. Catherine Weibel, UNICEF, cweibel@unicef.org, 054 778 7604.