Over 100 parliamentarians call on UK Prime Minister to support Afghan education
© UNHCR
More than 100 members of parliament from across the political spectrum have written to the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson, urging him to work with G20 partners to develop a plan for education for Afghans.
Writing ahead of an extraordinary G20 summit on Afghanistan planned for later this month, they called on the PM to support efforts to prioritize education for Afghanistan's children and young people as part of a common international strategy for Afghanistan to be agreed at the summit.
Specifically, the members of both the House of Commons and Lords called on the Prime Minister to secure a commitment from the G20 to develop and fund a plan to support education in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in the host countries of the region based on the following four commitments:
Increasing humanitarian and development assistance, provided to the UN and international agencies, to ensure schools, colleges, and universities can continue to operate.
Providing support to host countries for the education of both existing and newly arriving refugee children and youth.
Increasing the number of scholarships for tertiary study overseas, especially for women.
Ensuring that a fundamental condition of any working relationship with the regime is that it upholds the right to education.
The call was led by IPNEd Co-Chair and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Education, Harriett Baldwin MP.
When Taliban rule ended in 2001, there was a sharp and rapid increase in enrolment in school, for both boys and girls, from 1 million to 9.5 million students and the number of schools increased from 3,400 to 16,400
“Protecting these gains and the right to education for Afghanistan’s children will require sustained and coordinated financial support both from the UK and the international community”, said Ms Baldwin.
“In recent weeks everyone has rightly shared their concern for the rights of Afghanistan’s women and girls, especially to continue their education. That concern must now turn into a practical plan funded by the international community to ensure that Afghanistan’s fragile education system has the financial support to stay open and that its children can exercise their right to education” she added.
The letter was co-signed by Sarah Champion MP (Labour), Chair of the International Development Committee, and Chris Law MP (SNP), Spokesperson for International Development. Other signatories included former Foreign Secretary, the Rt. Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, as well as former Development Secretaries, the Rt. Hon Andrew Mitchell MP and the Rt. Hon Hilary Benn MP along with the Prime Minister’s former Special Envoy for Girls’ Education Baroness Liz Sugg.
Members of the International Parliamentary Network for Education in the Italian Parliament have also written to Prime Minister Draghi, as G20 President, asking him to support a plan for education for Afghans. Parliamentarians across the G20 will also be issuing similar calls in the coming days.
