PODCAST - Professor Steven Haines
Monday 16 December 2024, is a significant date for Professor Steven Haines and his colleagues within the Global Coalition for the Protection of Education (GCPEA) with whom he has worked since 2012 on the Protection of Schools and Universities in Zones of Armed Conflict. It is the 10th Anniversary of the formal adoption at State level of the International Guidelines for the Protection of Schools and Universities from Attack in Armed Conflict. The Guidelines, a core component of the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD), which provide concrete guidance for armed forces and non-state armed groups to protect education when planning and executing military operations, were formally launched at the UN Headquarters in Geneva on 16 December 2014, with Norway and Argentina acting as diplomatic champions. They now have 120 States on the list of endorsements – and are working to persuade more to endorse.
In 2021 around 110 States had endorsed and the Guidelines and Safe Schools Declaration had featured in UN Security Council and UN General Assembly debates. They were also the basis for the UN declaring the 9th September annually as the UN’s International Day for the Protection of Education. A further 9 States have endorsed since then and Professor Haines will be spending two or three days at NATO Headquarters in Brussels in February attempting to get the full set of Alliance members to endorse (most have already done so). Following this he also expects to be in Kenya in the autumn for the 5th All State Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration.
To mark the occasion, GCPEA’s Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor, Ilaria Paolazzi, sat down with Professor Steven Haines, the principal author of the Guidelines to record their discussion on the origin of the Guidelines, points of progress and regression, and the pressing need to better protect education from attack in armed conflict.
Listen to the podcast here: GCPEA Commemorates the 10th Anniversary of the Launch of the Guidelines with their Principal Author, Steven Haines - Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack
View the guidelines here: Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict
