UNICEF and the right to education of children in armed conflict areas: A case study of Gulu District in Northern Uganda.

Abstract

The study is conceived along the understanding that children like any other human beings are naturally entitled to the fundamental human rights and the right to education in particular, irrespective of their race, age, color, sex or family background. It is pertinent to note from the on start that UNICEF, the world’s leading child rights organization works in Uganda to help the government meet its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This study therefore analyzes the role of UNICEF in the promotion and protection of children’s right to education in the armed conflict areas of Uganda, a case study Gulu District. The general objectives of the study included; to find out the responses and actions of UNICEF in promotion and protection of the right of education of Children, establish other children right’s promoted by UNICEF in the area, and the challenges faced in the promotion and protection of the right to education of formerly abducted children. To gather this information, both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were employed. For example; in-depth interviews, observation, focus group discussion and questionnaires. Different sampling techniques were used for the different population categories. Triangulation became pertinent in a sense that loopholes of one methodology were rectified by the other.

The findings of the study indicate that UNICEF’s major action and focus is on primary education and IDP camps and hardly anything on secondary education. It was also established that the right to health and water are majority rights being promoted and protected by UNICEF in the area and that the formerly abducted children not only find it hard but also unable to re-enter the formal school system.

The study recommends that; UNICEF needs to employ a holistic approach and consider incorporating psychosocial support, health, water and sanitation education to life skills, vocational, secondary education. The study further recommends that UNICEF needs to support educational budgets of Local Governments in Northern Uganda.