A/HRC/8/10 page 7 conflict or natural disaster. There is an urgent need to close this gap because, although the impact of every emergency is different, there is one prevailing characteristic common to all: the interruption, degradation or destruction of education and education systems.4 I. EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES 17. The Special Rapporteur is aware of the multiplicity of proposed definitions of “emergency”. Education in emergency situations, its role and its content, are also a source of conceptual disagreement, especially where a distinction is being made between education in emergencies and education in non-emergency situations. 18. For the purposes of this report the focus will be on the period from early response to an emergency to the initial stages of reconstruction,5 for this is when what are perhaps the worst violations of the right to education occur. It is during this period that educational systems and opportunities are destroyed, and that the limited attention paid by the humanitarian agencies involved, and the relative absence of clear programmatic principles, indicators or funding, are most clearly revealed. A. Context 19. The consequences of brutal armed conflicts and of natural disasters for education specifically have become increasingly visible. Either can strike in any region, sometimes without warning. They occur in States that can cope financially or in States that cannot. In both cases, the civilian population is the chief casualty. 20. The evidence shows that the killing of female students and teachers and the bombing and destruction of schools have escalated sharply over the past four years in terms of victims and brutality.6 In countries like Afghanistan “such attacks are directed against girls’ schools, in an effort to intimidate and prevent girls from accessing education”.7 4 Sinclair, M., Planning Education in and after Emergencies, Instituto Internacional de Planeamiento de la Educación, UNESCO, París, 2002. 5 INEE, Normas Mínimas para la educación en situaciones de emergencia, crisis crónicas y reconstrucción temprana, 2004, pág. 8. Disponible en www.ineesite.org. 6 O’Malley, B., Education Under Attack: A global study on targeted political and military violence against education staff, students, teachers, union and government officials, and institutions (estudio encargado por la UNESCO), 2007: www.unesco.org/education/attack/ educationunderattack.pdf. 7 Declaración de la Representante Especial del Secretario General, Radhika Coomaraswamy, ante el Consejo de Seguridad en febrero de 2008: www.un.org/children/conflict/english/ 12-feb-2008-statement-at-the-security-council-open-deb.html.