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Schools as Zones of Peace

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Save the Children has developed a project that aims to link the global work done on protecting education from attack to what happens at school level in affected countries. Schools as Zones of Peace is a Save the Children led project that aims to secure boys and girls’ protection at school, and avoid that education is disrupted because of armed conflict. The project builds on the Schools as Zones of Peace-model that was successful in ensuring children’s access to education in Nepal during the civil war, and uses components from this while linking it to the Safe Schools Declaration. In the project, we work with children, school management and local communities, and work to influence local, national and global policies. Locally, the project aims to secure protective learning environments in conflict and post-conflict situations, raise awareness among communities, school management and children, and build local and national level engagement to protect education. This includes using participatory tools and methods to engage children. This is a way to implement the Safe Schools Declaration through a bottom-up approach by engaging local schools and communities. Where the context allows, we work through partners to engage armed non-state actors (ANSAs) among others to not disrupt education. Globally, we aim to link experiences from these countries to the global advocacy and policy work.

This project links child protection and education across the interventions. One of the key aspects of the project is to address the issues one has uncovered (for instance ensuring that documentation is follow-up by providing a response, either through referral or through direct support). It is thus important that education and child protection colleagues work together in designing and implementing this project. As Save the Children works to reach the most marginalised children, it is important that when conducting activities, the organisation pays special attention to the children who are not the most vocal, and ensures that the activities are conducted in an inclusive and gender-sensitive way, promoting the participation of all children. Boys and girls should both be represented when conducting the activities.

Schools as Zones of Peace (SZOP) is primarily for any situation (conflict or fragile context) where children are facing disruption in education because of military use, occupation, attacks on schools, forced recruitment or classrooms used as storage for military or weaponry. The project is linked to the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD), but endorsement of the SSD is not a prerequisite to implement the project in a given context. In some circumstances, implementation of the SZOP project may lead to a state endorsing the declaration.

Working on a project to protect education from attack is sensitive, and may not be appropriate in all contexts. Carefully consider whether this project is appropriate, and take care to ensure that none of the activities chosen put any staff, children or local communities at risk or in harm’s way. In some contexts, none or only a few of the presented activities may be possible, while in others, it is appropriate to conduct all the activities. This guide merely aims to present the key activities as they are currently being implemented in the Schools as Zones of Peace countries, but the responsibility for programming will ultimately lie with the implementing organisation choosing the activities. Please take care to contextualise any activities chosen, and be aware that not all tools will be appropriate in all contexts, and most will have to be contextualised.

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• School as a zone of peace: Rhetoric or Reality

Education is the right of every human being. It is also to essential exercise other rights. Moreover, it promotes individual freedom and empowerment and provides development benefit. Needless to mention, the education is the bedrock to march towards the sign of prosperity and development. Despite this fact, millions of children in our country remains deprived from educational opportunities hindering their growth and development. In Nepal, especially in rural areas, many children fail to enroll in school as a result of poverty. From dawn to dusk, they are engaged in agricultural field or other economic activities to support their parents to meet their both ends.

Last year, hundreds of educational institutions were shut down for many days due to strike called by cadres of political parties and other outlawed groups which are clandestinely operating in different parts of the country. The objective of such strike is to exert pressure on authorities to make their demands addressed. While the strike has become a common practice in Nepal to mount pressure on government, the educational institutions are hit hard as they are forced to remain close during the strike depriving students from their inalienable right- the right to education.

Parents send their wards to the school and colleges with a hope that they will be protected and safe within the premises of educational institutions. They view educational institutions as a non violent zone where they are imparted the significance of education in curing the social anomalies existing in the society. Furthermore, the parents expect it be a temple of learning in a fearless environment. Given the existing situation attributed by frequent strikes in the garb of making disgruntled voices heard, the trust of parents have decreased multifold.

Nepali students will continue to learn in fearful environment if the disgruntled groups fail to recognize the adverse effect created by such frequent strikes in educational institutions. According to some credible reports, children tend to develop long lasting psychological effects and irreparable scar owing to frequent shut down of school and colleges. The same reports also laid high emphasis on social anomalies resulting from such frequent disturbances. In another bizarre incident, some member of unidentified groups torched the school bus and vandalized the institution's property worth thousands in eastern district of Nepal. It has been found that the students witnessing such incidents develop sense of fear leading to long lasting mental disorder

In urban areas, the parents do not have adequate time to oversee their wards during their working hours. As a result, the children can be easily misled and indulge into unlawful activities that could adversely affect their learning opportunities. Hence, parents on their part must supervise and provide strategic guidance on regular basis to widen their knowledge and understanding about the significance of education in the present context.

In a recently concluded program aimed to delve into the issues concerning with the impact of frequent strikes in the quality of education, the educationist from across the globe put forth their invaluable views and opinions in collective voice to that end. They said that how all these kinds of frequent strikes and protest rallies involving children increases social anomalies in impoverished region like Nepal. They urged the authorities and other stakeholders to seek an alternative to strikes to make their voices heard. Frequent shut down of educational institutions owing to strikes will not only deprived the children from educational opportunities but also develop irreparable psychological trauma and disorder among them. There is a dire need to end the bandh culture to guarantee the fearless learning opportunities within the school and college premises.

Other pressing issues that affect the learning opportunities of children include rampant corporal punishment in school across the country. There are credible report that says teacher often resort to corporal punishment when student fail to accomplish the assigned task to them. Last year, a student in mid western district of the country was beaten black and blue by the school teacher after he fail to complete the given work assigned by the teacher. Three days later, the student succumbs to injury while undergoing treatment at the local hospital. The deceased family has been demanding stern action against the teacher who is still at large. This is just the tip of the ice bergs. There are number of such incidents that go unreported for many reasons.

Over the years, especially after the restoration of democracy, the top leaders of the successive government have declared the school as a zone of peace and vowed to prohibit any political activities within the premises of educational institutions. In collective voice, they have pledged not to include school children in politically motivated rallies and protest programs. Unfortunately, those who have committed to promote educational institutions as vehicle of development are in the frontline to disturb the learning environment of school and colleges. This is glaring example of their ineptitude to translate their word into action. If they are really committed to transform Nepal in terms of social and economic betterment, they must end the culture of strike and protect and promote educational institutions as a zone of peace.

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School as Zones of Peace

Dates:  2008 – 2015

Funded by: UNICEF

In 2006, Nepal emerged from a decade-long civil war which had major impacts on education in the country. Though much of the violence had ended, the Terai region was still experiencing considerable political turbulence after this time. The UNICEF-funded School as Zones of Peace (SZOP) project aimed to increase children’s access to quality education by ensuring peace in the schools most affected by civil unrest and political activities. World Education worked with local NGO partners and government counterparts in nine Terai districts to address the impacts of political conflict in these regions and build capacity to implement quality education initiatives and plan future programming. Currently, World Education works in 800 schools with 300,000 students through SZOP.

Key elements of the SZOP project included developing a Code of Conduct for each school which was approved by local and district government bodies; mobilizing civil society to keep the conflict out of schools; and advocating for the official endorsement of schools as zones of peace at cabinet and parliamentary levels. This resulted in more than 180 days of schools remaining open for education; the end of school grounds being misused and mismanaged (ex. being rented out for wedding functions, etc.); improved school governance by School Management Committees and Parent Teacher Associations; a reduced presence of armed forces in schools; and the official adoption of Schools as Zones of Peace at the national level in 2011.

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Countries learn from Nepal's 'Schools as Zones of Peace' programme

By Rupa Joshi

KATHMANDU, Nepal, 16 May 2012 – Participants from five countries and various ministries and international NGOs gathered in Nepal last week to learn about the ‘Schools as Zones of Peace’ (SZOP) programme.

The countries were either recovering from conflict or were currently enduring conflicts, intra-border, intra-ethnic or otherwise. Though the participants represented diverse cultures, races and languages, they found in the seminar that they were bound by the commonality of their experiences.

Each of the countries – Côte d’Ivoire, India, Liberia, Nepal and South Sudan – has hundreds of thousands of children out of school because of conflict, including some children have never been to a school at all. The intensity of violence varied from country to country, but its impact on the lives of the children, their survival, growth and learning, seemed universal.

Keeping schools open

Over 40 participants gathered in Kathmandu to learn from Nepal’s successful experience with SZOP in a three-day seminar organized by the governments of Nepal and Norway, Save the Children, and UNICEF.

“Nepal has taken many strides in trying to ensure that children and schools remain as zones of peace, and we are very glad and proud that through this south-south sharing we are able to showcase our experiences,” said Kishor Thapa, Nepal’s Secretary of Education.

The closures and strikes currently affecting Nepal offered participants an opportunity to witness first-hand the implementation of the SZOP Code of Conduct. A two-day strike by one political party was set to start the day after participants’ visited schools in Sindhupalchowk District.

“The child club members and the school management committee had been explaining to us about how the Code of Conduct had been implemented in their school,” said Shaheen Nilofer, Chief of UNICEF’s Chhattisgarh office in India. “We asked them whether the school would bow down to pressure from the political party to close the school. Then this young child chirped, ‘No question about it! Why don’t you drop by tomorrow to check whether we will be in school or not?’ We were all very impressed with their confidence and ownership.”

It was the community’s ownership of the campaign to keep any kind of conflict out of the school premises that impressed most of the participants.

“Community ownership is a big lesson that I am taking back with me to Liberia,” said Liberian Minister of Education Etmonia Tarpeh. “We came; we saw; we learned. We learned how we can make a difference. Now we will ensure that our plan of action will incorporate mechanisms to take peace initiatives beyond the school into the community just like Nepal has done.”

Bringing children back to the classroom

Participants also shared the projects they had undertaken to return students to school and restore normalcy in the lives of conflict-affected children. These ranged from the art-based therapy used in schools in conflict-affected areas of Chhattisgarh, India, to training child-friendly teachers in Liberia, to attracting students by building drinking water taps in schools in South Sudan.

The delegates also heard from representatives of Nepali media about their dual role in a country in transition. Aside from working as mainstream journalists, the media representatives also functioned as watchdogs ensuring the rights of citizens are protected.

“We have learned how important an ally the media can be to keep schools safe,” said Shadrack Chol Stephen from the Ministry of Education in South Sudan. “Back in our country, we will work out a mechanism such that the media not only help us while we roll out our own SZOP plan, but also watch out for possible triggers and thus reduce the risk of our schools being attacked.”

Education is key to peace

According to UNESCO, there are currently 67 million children out of school throughout the world, and over 40 per cent of them are in conflict-affected countries.

“When natural disasters hit countries already ravaged by conflict, the vulnerability of children is exacerbated,” said Brenda Haiplik, UNICEF Chief of Education in New York. “We have been stressing global replication and adaptation of SZOP because education is key to peace. But just improving the access and quality of education is not enough. Education has to be able to transform the lives of the children.”

The participants agreed that the key to this transformation comes also from being able to take peace beyond the classroom to the family and community.

“It is only when there is a peaceful atmosphere at home that classrooms can be peaceful too,” said Pongathie Abraham, Regional Director of the Ministry of Education from Côte d’Ivoire. “Children can bring the turmoil in their family and community to a classroom. That’s why it’s so important to have this wide network involving the community in the SZOP campaign.”

“It is because of this initiative – implemented through joint collaboration of Government, UN agencies, civil society and committed implementing partners at the central and local levels – that more than 1 million Nepali children in more than 4,000 schools directly benefited from schools being kept open more days as a result of fewer strikes and closures,” said UNICEF Representative in Nepal Hanaa Singer. “And as much as you can learn from us, we can learn from your experiences in promoting a culture of peace in a post-conflict context like ours.”

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, zone of peace: beliefs, roles, and practices.

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research

ISSN : 1759-6599

Article publication date: 1 June 2023

Issue publication date: 5 April 2024

The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding and observance of the program “This School is a Zone of Peace” (SZOP) in schools where conflict and violence are not prevalent.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper followed a qualitative research tradition – narrative inquiry. Eight teachers and a school head participated in the study. Data were gathered through nonparticipant observation, photography and focus group discussion with photo elicitation.

The participants elucidated the declaration, “This School is a Zone of Peace,” as a message of assurance to the community that the school is a home for learners that is welcoming and violence free. Furthermore, learners in a school that is a zone of peace are honed holistically with the participation, cooperation and togetherness of the school community members. Teachers at the forefront viewed themselves as mentors, implementers and models. Teachers contended that peacebuilding practices in schools could be sustained through regular implementation, encouraging others to get involved and have commitment.

Originality/value

A handful of articles have illustrated the essence of the School as Zone of Peace program, which pointed out to create a culture of peace in schools; however, it leaned toward the negative conception of peace – the absence of conflict and violence. This study bared additional insights and fresh perspectives of the SZOP initiative observed in schools with different contexts and experiences that may be helpful to policymakers for the enhancement of the adapted program with the goal of peacebuilding to making schools highly functional.

• Collaboration
• Participation
• Peacebuilding
• Peace practices
• Positive peace
• Zones of peace

Acknowledgements

Conflicts of interest : None to declare.

Jabor, R.M. (2024), "Zone of peace: beliefs, roles, and practices", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research , Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 101-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-04-2023-0792

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Zones of Peace

• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 10 November 2020
• Cite this living reference work entry

• Landon E. Hancock 3  

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Experiencia de Paz (peace experience) ; Peace community

Definition/Description

Zones of peace (ZoPs) began as geographically based communities of citizens seeking to withdraw themselves from situations of violence in the midst of armed conflict. This definition later expanded to include peace communities in post-conflict areas as well as peace experiences for communities that became displaced due to violence or war. ZoPs are often characterized by a triggering event, high levels of communal participation and cohesion, a wide variety of peacebuilding activities, and the need to continually negotiate their safety by practicing “active neutrality” with respect to groups of armed actors – state supporting, state opposing, or even criminal gangs. First created in the Philippines in the 1980s, ZoPs have been used most widely in Colombia during its civil conflict, but have analogues in El Salvador, West Africa, and elsewhere.

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Hancock, L.E. (2021). Zones of Peace. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_177-1

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DO 44, s. 2005 – Declaration of Schools as Zones of Peace

To: Undersecretaries Assistant Secretaries Bureau Directors Directors of Services/Centers and Heads of Units Regional Directors Schools Division/City Superintendents Heads, Public Elementary and Secondary Schools All Others Concerned

• Whereas, under Republic Act No. 7610, known as the “Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act”, states that “… Children are hereby declared as Zones of Peace. It shall be the responsibility of the State and all other sectors concerned to resolve armed conflicts in order to promote the goal of children as zones of peace …” (Article X, Sec. 22).
• Whereas, under Republic Act No. 9155, known as the “Governance on Basic Education Act of 2001 ”, one of the purposes and objectives of the Department of Education (DepED) is “to establish schools and learning centers as facilities where schoolchildren are able to learn a range of core competencies prescribed for elementary and high school education programs or where the out-of-school youth and adult learners are provided alternative learning programs and receive accreditation for at least the equivalent of a high school education” [Sec. 3(g)].
• Whereas, the DepED is a direct service provider to Filipino children by providing quality basic education and is also a member of the Inter-Agency Committee in Children Involved in Armed Conflict (IAC-CIAC), which is under the oversight of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
• Therefore, DepED affirms its commitment for the children by declaring the “Schools as Zones of Peace”.
• Furthermore, all concerned personnel in the Central and field offices are mandated to make necessary actions to make all schools a place where children can receive utmost security and peace.
• Immediate dissemination of and compliance with this Order is directed.

Reference: None Allotment: 1—(D.O. 50-97)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects: LEGISLATION PEACE EDUCATION PUPILS SCHOOLS

DO_s2005_044

Essay on Peace

500 words essay peace.

Peace is the path we take for bringing growth and prosperity to society. If we do not have peace and harmony, achieving political strength, economic stability and cultural growth will be impossible. Moreover, before we transmit the notion of peace to others, it is vital for us to possess peace within. It is not a certain individual’s responsibility to maintain peace but everyone’s duty. Thus, an essay on peace will throw some light on the same topic.

Importance of Peace

History has been proof of the thousands of war which have taken place in all periods at different levels between nations. Thus, we learned that peace played an important role in ending these wars or even preventing some of them.

In fact, if you take a look at all religious scriptures and ceremonies, you will realize that all of them teach peace. They mostly advocate eliminating war and maintaining harmony. In other words, all of them hold out a sacred commitment to peace.

It is after the thousands of destructive wars that humans realized the importance of peace. Earth needs peace in order to survive. This applies to every angle including wars, pollution , natural disasters and more.

When peace and harmony are maintained, things will continue to run smoothly without any delay. Moreover, it can be a saviour for many who do not wish to engage in any disrupting activities or more.

In other words, while war destroys and disrupts, peace builds and strengthens as well as restores. Moreover, peace is personal which helps us achieve security and tranquillity and avoid anxiety and chaos to make our lives better.

How to Maintain Peace

There are many ways in which we can maintain peace at different levels. To begin with humankind, it is essential to maintain equality, security and justice to maintain the political order of any nation.

Further, we must promote the advancement of technology and science which will ultimately benefit all of humankind and maintain the welfare of people. In addition, introducing a global economic system will help eliminate divergence, mistrust and regional imbalance.

It is also essential to encourage ethics that promote ecological prosperity and incorporate solutions to resolve the environmental crisis. This will in turn share success and fulfil the responsibility of individuals to end historical prejudices.

Similarly, we must also adopt a mental and spiritual ideology that embodies a helpful attitude to spread harmony. We must also recognize diversity and integration for expressing emotion to enhance our friendship with everyone from different cultures.

Finally, it must be everyone’s noble mission to promote peace by expressing its contribution to the long-lasting well-being factor of everyone’s lives. Thus, we must all try our level best to maintain peace and harmony.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Peace

To sum it up, peace is essential to control the evils which damage our society. It is obvious that we will keep facing crises on many levels but we can manage them better with the help of peace. Moreover, peace is vital for humankind to survive and strive for a better future.

FAQ of Essay on Peace

Question 1: What is the importance of peace?

Answer 1: Peace is the way that helps us prevent inequity and violence. It is no less than a golden ticket to enter a new and bright future for mankind. Moreover, everyone plays an essential role in this so that everybody can get a more equal and peaceful world.

Question 2: What exactly is peace?

Answer 2: Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in which there is no hostility and violence. In social terms, we use it commonly to refer to a lack of conflict, such as war. Thus, it is freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups.

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For the children of Gaza, war means no school — and no indication when formal learning might return

Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, all of Gaza’s schools have closed. That has left hundreds of thousands of students without formal schooling or safe places to spend their days. (AP video shot by Abdel Kareem Hana and Mahmoud Essa)

Children attend an activity at a makeshift class in Deir al Balah, on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Since the war erupted Oct 7, all schools in Gaza have closed, and nearly 90% of school buildings are damaged or destroyed, according to aid groups. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareen Hana)

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Manal Al Buhaisi works with children at a makeshift class in Deir al Balah, on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Since the war erupted Oct 7, all schools in Gaza have closed, and nearly 90% of school buildings are damaged or destroyed, according to aid groups. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareen Hana)

Children play near their family’s tent in Deir al Balah, on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Since the war erupted Oct 7, all of Gaza’s schools have closed, and aid groups are scrambling to keep children off the streets and their minds focused on something other than the war. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareen Hana)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — Atef Al-Buhaisi, 6, once dreamed of a career building houses. Now, all he craves is to return to school.

In Israel’s war with Hamas, Atef’s home has been bombed, his teacher killed and his school in Nuseirat turned into a refuge for displaced people. He lives in a cramped tent with his family in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where he sleeps clinging to his grandmother and fears walking alone even during the day.

Since the war erupted Oct. 7 , all of Gaza’s schools have closed — leaving hundreds of thousands of students like Atef without formal schooling or a safe place to spend their days. Aid groups are scrambling to keep children off the streets and their minds focused on something other than the war, as heavy fighting continues across the enclave and has expanded into the southern city of Rafah and intensified in the north.

“What we’ve lost most is the future of our children and their education,” said Irada Ismael, Atef’s grandmother. “Houses and walls are rebuilt, money can be earned again ... but how do I compensate for (his) education?”

Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis, with the head of the U.N.'s World Food Program determining a “full-blown famine” is already underway in the north. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. About 80% of Gaza’s population has been driven from homes. Much of Gaza is damaged or destroyed, including nearly 90% of school buildings, according to aid group estimates.

Children are among the most severely affected , with the U.N. estimating some 19,000 children have been orphaned and nearly a third under the age of 2 face acute malnutrition. In emergencies, education takes a back seat to safety, health and sanitation, say education experts, but the consequences are lasting.

“The immediate focus during conflict isn’t on education, but the disruption has an incredibly long-term effect,” said Sonia Ben Jaafar, of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on education in the Arab world. “The cost at this point is immeasurable.”

Before the war, Gaza was home to more than 625,000 students and some 20,000 teachers in its highly literate population, according to the U.N. In other conflicts, aid groups can create safe spaces for children in neighboring countries — for example, Poland for shelter and schooling during the war in Ukraine.

That’s not possible in Gaza, a densely populated enclave locked between the sea, Israel and Egypt. Since Oct 7, Palestinians from Gaza haven’t been allowed to cross into Israel. Egypt has let a small number of Palestinians leave.

“They’re unable to flee, and they remain in an area that continues to be battered,” said Tess Ingram, of UNICEF. “It’s very hard to provide them with certain services, such as mental health and psychosocial support or consistent education and learning.”

Aid groups hope classes will resume by September. But even if a cease-fire is brokered, much of Gaza must be cleared of mines, and rebuilding schools could take years .

In the interim, aid groups are providing recreational activities — games, drawing, drama, art — not for a curriculum-based education but to keep children engaged and in a routine, in an effort for normalcy. Even then, advocates say, attention often turns to the war — Atef’s grandmother sees him draw pictures only of tents, planes and missiles.

Finding free space is among the biggest challenges . Some volunteers use the outdoors, make do inside tents where people live, or find a room in homes still standing.

It took volunteer teachers more than two months to clear one room in a school in Deir al-Balah to give ad hoc classes to children. Getting simple supplies such as soccer balls and stationery into Gaza can also take months, groups report.

“Having safe spaces for children to gather to play and learn is an important step,” Ingram said, but “ultimately the children of Gaza must be able to return to learning curriculum from teachers in classrooms, with education materials and all the other support schooling provides.”

This month, UNICEF had planned to erect at least 50 tents for some 6,000 children from preschool to grade 12 for play-based numbers and literacy learning in Rafah. But UNICEF says those plans could be disrupted by Israel’s operation there.

Lack of schooling can take a psychological toll — it disrupts daily life and, compounded with conflict, makes children more prone to anxiety and nervousness, said Jesus Miguel Perez Cazorla, a mental health expert with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Children in conflicts are also at increased risk of forced labor, sexual violence, trafficking and recruitment by gangs and armed groups, experts warn.

“Not only are children vulnerable to recruitment by Hamas and other militant groups, but living amid ongoing violence and constantly losing family members makes children psychologically primed to want to take action against the groups they consider responsible,” said Samantha Nutt of War Child USA, which supports children and families in war zones.

Palestinians say they’ve seen more children take to Gaza’s streets since the war, trying to earn money for their families.

“The streets are full of children selling very simple things, such as chocolate, canned goods,” said Lama Nidal Alzaanin, 18, who was in her last year of high school and looking forward to university when the war broke out. “There is nothing for them to do.”

Some parents try to find small ways to teach their children, scrounging for notebooks and pens and insisting they learn something as small as a new word each day. But many find the kids are too distracted, with the world around them at war.

Sabreen al-Khatib, a mother whose family was displaced to Deir al-Balah from Gaza City, said it’s particularly hard for the many who’ve seen relatives die.

“When you speak in front of children,” al-Khatib said, “what do you think he is thinking? Will he think about education? Or about himself, how will he die?”

On Oct. 7, 14-year-old Layan Nidal Alzaanin — Lama’s younger sister — was on her way to her middle school in Beit Hanoun when missiles flew overhead, she said. She fled with her family to Rafah, where they lived crowded in a tent. Since Israel ordered evacuations there, she fled to Deir al-Balah.

“It is a disaster,” she said. “My dreams have been shattered. There is no future for me without school.”

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Opinion: The issue of human rights is on life support. Here’s how to save it

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I once heard Jimmy Carter say that in a war there are no human rights. With the fighting in Ukraine and in Gaza front and center, that observation seems more profound than ever. Human rights as an issue may be on life support.

There are so few great examples of progress to look to. Maybe just one — Northern Ireland, finally.

In addition to major war zones, human rights are being trampled in so many places that it requires an effort to keep up with the havoc. Old alliances are cracking if not broken. Displaced people clamor for shelter and safety. The number of deaths is enormous, the disruption epic.

Opinion: How can the U.S. renew Mideast peace talks? Recognize Palestinian statehood

The Oslo accords failed. As Gaza faces Israel’s bombardment, it’s time to radically reimagine how the two sides can negotiate.

Dec. 14, 2023

The Council on Foreign Relations maintains a conflict tracker — its orange markers dot the globe. Wikipedia maps an even broader set of armed conflicts . Hostile actions are killing folks in Sudan and western New Guinea, Haiti is near collapse, criminal violence pervades Mexico, thousands die in Syria year by year.

Some of the violence is especially barbaric, as at the music festival in Israel on Oct. 7. Hostages are held for long periods of time in Russia, China, Egypt and now Gaza. Nearly a million Palestinians are fleeing any which way, seeking safety from the promised invasion of Rafah.

The consequences are obvious but hard to fathom. The old and the very young die first. Famine follows war; disease follows famine, and young adults and the middle-aged die too. Women are especially vulnerable to sexual violence, with effects that can last for a lifetime. Scores are left homeless.

Decency and sanity demand that we address these catastrophes, however massive and intransigent.

Opinion: Today’s protests are tamer than the campus unrest of the 1960s. So why the harsh response?

College presidents in the Vietnam era would have thanked their lucky stars to face the relatively low disruptions caused by student movements in 2024.

May 14, 2024

We can start by reminding ourselves about the goal. Reread the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , adopted by the United Nations in 1948, written under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt. It remains a clear call for how the world should treat its people. Or look to Pope Francis’ “ Dignitas Infinita ,” the Catholic Church’s call to, “without fanfare, in concrete daily life, fight and personally pay the price for defending the rights of those who do not count.”

But how? Support those who run toward conflict and danger, who document events, who demand accountability: volunteers and U.N. workers, journalists on the ground and peace negotiators. Groups such as Doctors without Borders, the World Kitchen, the Red Cross/Red Crescent and Amnesty International, where I once worked. (Do your homework; not every group has staying power.)

Column: A meeting of Cal State L.A. student encampments, 55 years apart

Fifty-five years ago, a student encampment stood on the very spot at Cal State L.A. where pro-Palestinian students have set up tents now. Their asks were different, their spirits the same.

May 21, 2024

Find a part of the world you want to help and don’t forget that it might be next door. Talk to people you disagree with. Seek things you can agree on.

Simply put, the world is shaking from violence. It needs to shake from decency. We need to regain our hope and confidence for the future.

Is this foolishness, an impossibility given the metastasizing violence? I think not. Wherever you are, whatever else your responsibilities and commitments, you can vote, meet, organize, listen, donate time and money.

We must get human rights out of intensive care, resurrect our commitment to it. We need it home safe to protect us all.

Jack Healey, a former director of Amnesty International USA, is the founder of the Human Rights Action Center. He is the author of “Create Your Future: Lessons from a Life in Civil and Human Rights.”

More to Read

Opinion: The world community needs to put two-state facts on the ground and give Palestinians hope

May 22, 2024

This 5-year-old from Gaza is learning to live with one leg and untold loss

April 24, 2024

After a year of war, Sudan is world’s ‘forgotten crisis.’ Aid groups warn of mass death from hunger

April 14, 2024

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Student Activism Over Gaza: Admirable or Ill Informed?

More from our inbox:, faith, family and the republican party, deep dish pizza meh.

Re “ Dear Boomers, the Student Protesters Are Not Idiots ,” by Elizabeth Spiers (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, May 17):

Ms. Spiers’s characterization of the student protests misses the mark. As a recent college graduate myself, I don’t disagree that college students “are capable of having well thought-out principles,” but the principles underlying these protests are troubling.

Ms. Spiers alludes to my generation possessing elevated moral sensibilities due to our experience with mass shootings. But the calls for “From the river to the sea” and “Globalize the intifada” — ubiquitous in campus protests across the country — would require the killing of innocent Israelis in practice, as Bret Stephens pointed out in “ What a Free Palestine Actually Means ” (column, May 15).

If these chants are part of well thought-out principles and not naïveté, then it behooves us to scrutinize the moral framework that informs these principles.

Why is it that these protests project outrage toward Israel’s conduct in the war but conveniently elide the horrific details of Oct. 7 ? If my generation’s handle on complex world events is as comprehensive as Ms. Spiers suggests, then why do the protests flatten Israel’s entire history into an illegitimate colonial project? It’s not the protesters’ tactics that are uniquely troubling; it’s the worldview that inspires their actions.

Brian Silverstein Chicago

To the Editor:

As a baby boomer I am heartened by the fact that there are student protests that reflect that the younger generation actually cares and has insight about world events. I think that the student protests reflect the bravery and informed intellect of young protesters throughout the institutions of higher education.

Baby boomers would do well to reflect on their own stodginess rather than criticize young students for whom our generation modeled active protest as a vehicle for change.

Sahli Cavallaro Sacramento

Hillary Clinton’s voice remains a lonely voice in the media. Her argument is not one that is commonly heard on the issue of student protests. Yet it is an important message that she expressed: The protesting students are ignorant of the history of relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Yet these students shout their misinformed arguments that gain the attention of many in the media and the public. Above all, the universities, institutions of teaching and learning, have failed their own students.

Instead of calling in the police, instead of capitulating to ill-informed demands, why did the universities not respond by offering to end the suspensions and expulsions of protesting students in return for their required attendance at “teach-ins” to acquire knowledge of the history of Israel and the Palestinians?

Let this be a lesson for universities and professors for the next round of student demonstrations.

Vivian R. Gruder New York The writer is emerita professor of history at Queens College, CUNY.

As a former protester from the Vietnam War era, I certainly agree with Elizabeth Spiers’s premise that college students have the right to peacefully protest and exercise their freedom of speech. What I find so disturbing is that these students are erroneously blaming the situation in Gaza on President Biden and vowing not to vote for him.

Really? They don’t understand that by not voting for Mr. Biden, they are voting for Donald Trump, who, by the way, has promised an expanded Muslim ban . This to me is idiotic.

Peggy Jo Abraham Santa Monica, Calif.

Elizabeth Spiers’s article appears to target an entire generation in a disparaging and demeaning tone. Surely Ms. Spiers is aware that millions of boomers protested the Vietnam War in various ways — writing letters to their representatives in Washington and gathering in parks and memorials across the country. On Oct. 21, 1967, about 100,000 people, many of them boomers, gathered near the Lincoln Memorial as protesters against that war.

Ms. Spiers, please don’t disparage a single generation at a time when all generations should come together.

Timothy Pasquarelli Anthem, Ariz.

I’m 74 years old and am in complete support of students protesting, although I don’t agree with all their positions. I have just one question: Where have they been during the last eight years when our past president barred people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and massive cutbacks were made to environmental laws, to mention just a couple of issues?

I only hope that what we are seeing is the start of greater student political awareness, which will spread and grow stronger.

Neither Donald Trump nor the current MAGA-dominated Republican Party is going to go away unless citizens take to the streets and make it clear that they won’t stand for undemocratic, bigoted and misogynistic laws or tax cuts created just to benefit extremely wealthy conservatives.

Jon R. Tower Pacific Palisades, Calif.

To quote the political activist Carl Oglesby: “It isn’t the rebels who cause the troubles of the world. It’s the troubles that cause the rebels.”

Boomers, listen with curiosity to the rebels on college campuses and you will hear that their cause is for us to care about what is happening in the world and for universities to stop investing in companies that provide weapons for war. Universities should not be making money off of killing people!

Niobe Way New York The writer is a professor of applied psychology at New York University and the author of “Rebels With a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves and Our Culture.”

Re “ The Authoritarians Have the Momentum ,” by David Brooks (column, May 17):

Mr. Brooks’s column, advising that liberals have conceded the “faith and family” vote, might have enlightened his readers as to how the presumptive authoritarian Republican nominee’s life experiences honor either one.

Obviously, the terms “faith” and “family” have been hijacked simply to enrage working Americans into supporting wealth for the few, intolerance, rejection of education, facts and science, and, most significant of all, fear.

Mr. Brooks might rather have pointed out that the party that rejects the basic Christian values of love of neighbor, forgiveness and tolerance as well as an increase to the federal minimum wage, affordable health insurance, middle-class tax reform, workplace safety, protection from guns, and Social Security and Medicare stability serves neither faith nor family, and hasn’t for decades.

Eric R. Carey Arlington, Va.

Re “ That Deep Dish Pizza? It’s Not That Deep ” (Food, May 15):

I am an Italian American who grew up in what was then Chicago’s Little Italy in the 1950s, and thin-crust Neapolitan pizza was king.

Our local family-run pizzerias were staffed by Italian immigrants, usually from Naples. Deep dish? Meh!

As I no longer live in Chicago, whenever I meet fellow Chicagoans outside the city and state, almost always there are two “tribal” questions asked:

1. Are you Sox or Cubs?

2. Thin-crust Neapolitan or deep dish?

My preferences are thin crust and Chicago Cubs!

Steven Giovangelo Indianapolis

Things to Do in Lyubertsy, Russia - Lyubertsy Attractions

Things to do in lyubertsy.

• 5.0 of 5 bubbles
• 4.0 of 5 bubbles & up
• 3.0 of 5 bubbles & up
• District South-Eastern (YuVAO)
• Vykhino-Zhulebino
• Good for a Rainy Day
• Good for Kids
• Budget-friendly
• Good for Big Groups
• Adventurous
• Hidden Gems
• Good for Couples
• Honeymoon spot
• Good for Adrenaline Seekers
• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. Planeta Enotov

2. Sacred Troitskiy Temple

3. Natashinskiy Park

4. Monument to Yuriy Gagarin

5. Lyube Monument

6. Monument to Peacekeeping Soldiers

7. Saint Innokentiy's Temple

8. Temple of Lord's Transformation

9. Monument to Mitrofanov

10. Monument to Soldiers Who Died During Local Conflicts

11. Monument to Unknown Soldier

12. Lyuberetskiy Local Lore Museum

13. monument to vlasov.

14. Monument to Military Aviators "Tri Ivana"

15. House N.A. Kruminga

16. Kotelniki Metro Station

17. Kind Angel of Peace Statue

18. monument to the fighters of two revolutions.

19. Culture and Leisure Park

20. Torpedo

21. UFO Art Object

22. The Great Patriotic War Memorial

23. shopping center grenada.

24. Lenin Statue

25. monument mig-29, 26. provincial book fair.

27. Sport Palace Triumf

28. shopping mall vykhodnoy.

29. Entertainment Center Kosmopolis

30. Cantare Karaoke Club