Attachments
Introduction
Attacks on education are rising, with a devastating and disproportionate impact on women and girls. Today, more than 600 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a figure that has surged over the past decade. The deliberate targeting of their access to and participation in education, through attacks on schools and universities, military use of educational facilities, and threats along routes to and from classrooms, is eroding hard-won progress and deepening global inequality. The consequences are immediate and generational: over half of girls in crisis-affected regions are now out of school, and adolescent girls in conflict zones are 90 percent more likely to be out of school than peers in peaceful countries, with risks compounded by displacement, disability, and sexual violence.
When girls are denied education, entire societies are set back. The loss extends beyond the classroom, fueling child marriage, early pregnancy, economic exclusion, and intergenerational poverty, while communities lose future teachers, doctors, and leaders. Conversely, when girls can learn safely, education becomes a force multiplier for health, stability, and peace. Protecting that right requires not only gender-responsive laws and policies, but also robust systems for monitoring, reporting, and accountability to expose violations, support survivors, and deter future attacks. Accurate monitoring and reporting are the foundation for accountability. Without reliable data, attacks remain invisible and perpetrators unpunished.
Despite global commitments, attacks on girls’ and women’s education remain under-reported, under-investigated, and rarely prosecuted. Strengthening monitoring and data collection, closing accountability gaps, and integrating a gender lens into protection and justice mechanisms are essential steps toward fulfilling the promise of the Safe Schools Declaration and advancing the right to education for all.
In 2018, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) published a briefing paper titled What can be done to better protect women and girls from attacks on education and military use of educational institutions? and since then girls and women have faced increasing challenges and dangers with regard to accessing safe education. In many contexts, the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased conflict over the past seven years have compounded risks for women and girls, driving higher rates of school dropout and educational exclusion. At the same time, authoritarian regimes and non-state armed groups that control territories continue to exclude women and girls from education, often through intimidation and violence. Nowhere is this more evident than in Afghanistan, where the systematic exclusion of women and girls from education and public life has become a defining example of institutionalized gender-based oppression.
As 2025 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD), an international political commitment endorsed by 121 countries to protect education, Afghanistan’s reality underscores the urgency of ensuring that the protection of education includes a gender lens. The SSD calls on States to take concrete steps to protect students, teachers, and schools from attack and military use, and to ensure the continuity of education during armed conflict, commitments that are deeply interlinked with the Beijing +30 agenda. Three decades after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2025 review offers a pivotal opportunity to reaffirm global commitments to gender equality in and through education, ensure girls’ safe access to secondary education, and end violations of their rights, including child, early and forced marriage.