Let me begin by welcoming you, First Lady, to the Security Council and thanking you for your leadership on this important issue.<\/p>\n
I also congratulate the United States on assuming the Presidency of the Council for the month of March. You have our full support.<\/p>\n
And I thank Under Secretary-General DiCarlo for briefing us today.<\/p>\n
I will make three points.<\/p>\n
First, protecting children\u2019s right to safe, inclusive, quality education is critical.\u00a0And\u00a0yet, around the world, education systems are collapsing in\u00a0conditions of\u00a0conflict.<\/p>\n
In Gaza, 97% of schools have been damaged or destroyed, and over 650,000 children have been out of school for over two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Sudan, one in three schools has been damaged or destroyed, and 8 million children are out of school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Ukraine, 4.6 million children face barriers to learning as a result of Russia\u2019s illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n
The current conflict in the Middle East poses further risks.<\/p>\n
Children and civilian infrastructure, including schools, need to be protected.<\/p>\n
Parties to conflict must adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom supports the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and urges other member states to commit to it.<\/p>\n
We are also proud to support global efforts to safeguard children\u2019s education in crises, including through our support for UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education.<\/p>\n
Second, emerging technologies can play a transformative role in sustaining learning for children impacted by conflict and displacement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While not a substitute for in-person schooling, digital tools, remote learning platforms, and AI-supported systems can help children keep learning when classrooms are destroyed or inaccessible, and to access psychosocial support.<\/p>\n
But we also need to manage the risks of technology for children in conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, in Colombia, armed groups are increasingly using online platforms to recruit children.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom is committed to ensuring accountability for grave violations against children in conflict, including through our support for the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Technology companies and governments also have a key role to play in strengthening safeguards against such risks.<\/p>\n
Third,\u00a0Madame President,\u00a0conflict disproportionately impacts girls\u2019 education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Girls are more likely to be out of school than boys in conflict settings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And\u00a0as a result, they face heightened risks, including risks of exploitation, child marriage, trafficking, and sexual and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom is proud to support girls\u2019 education in crises, including over 7 million supported through the Education Cannot Wait fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we call on the private sector, working with governments and civil society, to ensure technology meets the particular needs of girls whose education is impacted by conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let me begin by welcoming you, First Lady, to the Security Council and thanking you for your leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-454297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}