Global leaders call for action to help young refugees, IDPs

16 Novembre 2017

Doha, Qatar , November 16 (Infosplusgabon) - An international panel on education has called for action to help young refugees and internally displaced youths.

The panel of world leaders said this on Thursday at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, hosted and attended by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the Chairperson of Education Above All Foundation, according to a statement from the organisers.

With more than 260 million children and adolescents not in school today, and only 1% of young refugees able to access higher education, the world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if young people are denied quality educational opportunities, they said.

The keynote address was delivered on “Asset over Burden – Education for Refugee Youth” by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana and Co-Chair of SDG Advocates.

He said: “The spectre of tens and tens of millions of young refugees growing up without the needed skills to create a meaningful life for themselves is a dangerous one. What do we expect them to do? What opportunities are available to them? How competitive can they be in this global economy?"

President Akufo-Addo said these are questions that must elicit a concerted and calculated response from the world’s leaders.

"In my view," he said, "education, education and more education is the only way by which we can foster a sense of cohesion and solidarity amongst displaced persons, especially of those of school going age, and, help create for them, an enabling environment, which will spur them on to lead more purposeful and dignified lives.”

Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management said: “Tens of millions of children are deprived of education. We cannot afford lost generations. No single child should be left behind. It is our moral duty to do more. This is why I will devote in 2018 8% of the EU’s humanitarian budget to education in emergencies.”

The statement said the EAA Foundation signed several new partnerships at the event, as part of the Foundation’s commitment to address the global education crisis and its goal of enrolling 10 million out-of-school children.

Launched in 2012 to enable human development through the provision of inclusive quality education, the Foundation has already committed to providing education opportunities to 7.3 million children worldwide.

The new partnerships will help over 3,000 Syrian and Palestinian refugees living in Turkey with full university scholarships, including tuition, accommodation, health insurance and a monthly stipend in partnership with SPARK and the Council of Higher Education in Turkey.

It will also help 30 Palestinian junior teachers from Gaza to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom in partnership with the British Council.

The EAA is a global education foundation established in 2012 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

The Foundation envisions bringing hope and real opportunity to the lives of impoverished and marginalized children, youth and women, especially in the developing world and in difficult circumstances such as conflict situations and natural disasters.

It believes that education is the single most effective means of reducing poverty, generating economic growth and creating peaceful and just societies, as well as a fundamental right for all children and an essential condition to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/EST/ GABON 2017

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