Netherlands Grants Over $1Mln to HRW to Halt Military Use of Schools

Human Rights Watch said in a press release that it had received a grant of more than $1 million aimed at preventing schools around the world from being used for military purposes.

 

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Human Rights Watch (HRW) received a grant of more than $1 million aimed at preventing schools around the world from being used for military purposes, the organization said in a press release issued on Monday.

“A generous grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery will help end the dangerous practice of armed forces using schools for military purposes during wartime…The €1,010,500 [$1,144,492] award is being made to Human Rights Watch, which has done extensive work on the subject,” the release read.

HRW reported that the use of schools by government and non-government armed forces for “military bases, barracks, detention centers, and weapons caches” was found in at least 25 countries in the past decade, with most recent cases in Ukraine.

“HRW will use the Dutch Postcode Lottery grant to continue to investigate incidents of military use of schools around the world, and to expose the negative consequences it has for children’s and teachers’ safety, as well as for children’s access to a safe and good quality education,” the press release said.

The Dutch Postcode Lottery is funded by the lottery’s participants and is not affiliated with the Netherlands’ government.

The United Nations Children’s Fund said that 2014 was a devastating year for millions of children, caught up in ongoing conflicts around the world, in particular, in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, the State of Palestine, Syria and Ukraine.