BM88: Safeguarding Palestinian students’ in Gaza access to education

Palestinian students’ access to education in Gaza is severely restricted. In the past year, every university in Gaza has been destroyed [1], leaving approximately 90.000 students without access to higher education. It’s evident that the rebuilding process of the higher educational infrastructure in Gaza will be prolonged and difficult, likely spanning several decades [2]. As a result, the fundamental human right to education will continue to be severely constrained for the foreseeable future, harming the academic pursuits of students and the functioning of HEIs in the Gaza strip.[3]  If Palestinian students are to have a future, their access to education must be safeguarded.

As members of the academic community, we students have a responsibility to act in accordance with researched knowledge. It is well documented that Gaza has an academic community that requires international solidarity and support. As the European students’ movement, we call on the European Union and the international academic community to support everyone’s right to education and protection of human rights. 

Therefore we demand to: 

1. Guarantee and protect Palestinian students’ inalienable human rights in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
2. Offer mobile Palestinian students needs-based support and safety guarantees. Visa periods should be extended if students wish to remain in their hosting cities.
3. Fully implement the Lisbon Recognition Convention (Article VII) to enable the recognition of qualifications of Palestinian students, connected to the implementation of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on Recognition of Qualifications Held by Refugees, Displaced Persons and Persons in a Refugee-like Situation and the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees. Additionally, we demand the implementation of recognition of prior learning on the level of learning outcomes, including through the implementation of the UNHCR complementary pathways for admission to third countries mechanism.
4. Offer advice, assistance, and developmental support towards rebuilding Gaza’s academic infrastructure and human resource capacities to their original condition.
5. Support solidarity actions with Palestinian students and their academic communities who have suffered from the destruction.
6. Advocate for the further propagation and proper implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, to set an international standard for the protection of schools and universities during armed conflict.
7. Renew the Bergen Declaration pledge by National Unions of Students to condemn any attacks on higher education institutions and call for states to commit to initiatives that protect them.

As students, we stand on the side of access to education and the upholding of human rights. The European Union and the international academic community have an important role to play in maintaining these principles for lasting democracy and peace: we call upon them to use it.

Proposers: LÍS, USI, SYL, LSVb, UdU

Seconders: SAMOK, FEF