16
community”. Children that are affected by armed conflict and insecurity indeed fall within
the category of children in disadvantaged situations and in order to ensure their right to
education “special measures” are required. In all the 10 occasions where the word
“special” is used in the African Children’s Charter, it is in the context of children who find
themselves in a disadvantaged and vulnerable situation.
64.
In addition, according to Article 11(2), education shall preserve and strengthen,
for example, “African morals, traditional values and cultures, ... national independence
and territorial integrity, ... African Unity and Solidarity”. As a result, it is important to
consider and make education an indispensable element towards promoting tolerance,
cessation of conflict and rebuilding of communities. Furthermore, even though Article 77
of Additional Protocol II does not make explicit reference to education, it requires that
children in armed conflict should be provided with facilities which are necessary for
their normal development “as far as possible ”.22
65.
The reading of Article 22(1) which provides for the duty to “…ensure respect for
rules of international humanitarian law…”, in conjunction with Article 11 of the African
Children’s Charter, shows that the obligations of State Parties to a conflict are crucial to
preserving the core components and essential features (availability, accessibility,
acceptability, adaptability) of the right to education in the circumstances of armed
conflict. In a situation of armed conflict, adaptability would require, among other things,
the setting up of ad hoc centers of learning as well as an urgent resumption of
educational activities.23
66.
In this regard, the African Committee takes note of the efforts of the Government
of Uganda including the building/setting up of schools/learning centers in the camps so
that children can continue their education and preserve some sense of normalcy,
despite the war and turmoil that surrounded them. Other measures include the
Government initiated Peace Recovery and Development Program (PRDP), bursary
schemes (for instance the Acholi Bursary Scheme for Education in Pader, Kitgum,
Amuru and Gulu districts), as well as the budgetary increases for the education sector
made by Government, some of which have directly targeted and benefitted children in
the conflict affected areas. Even though it is not directly in contention in this
Communication, the African Committee also lauds the post-conflict education efforts of
the Government and partners, such as the post - conflict and peace recovery
22
Considered to be customary international law, and in line with Article 11 of the ACRWC, Article 4(3)(a)
of Additional Protocol II, which applies to non-international armed conflict, states that children shall be
provided with the care and aid they require, and that, in particular, they shall receive an education,
including religious and moral education, in keeping with the wishes of their parents or, in the absence of
parents, of those responsible for their care.
23
In World Organisation Against Torture, Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, Jehovah Witnesses,
Inter-African Union for Human Rights v Zaire, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
found that the closure of universities and secondary schools for two years constituted a violation of Article
17 of the African Charter on the right to education. As a result, when a State closes a school, it has to
make other options available, however makeshift or problematic these alternative arrangements might
be.25/89, 47/90, 56/91, 100/93, World Organisation Against Torture, Lawyers’ Committee for Human
Rights, Jehovah Witnesses, Inter-African Union for Human Rights v Zaire, para.48.