Netherlands invests €7 mil. into education in crisis areas
The Dutch government is investing 7 million euros into providing education to children living in war zones or areas affected by natural disaster, Minister Lilianne Ploumen of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation announced at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on Monday, the Volkskrant reports.
The Dutch money is being invested in a fund that will provide education to 34 million children living in crisis areas or emergency situations over the next five years.
According to Ploumen, not attending school increases children's risk of radicalization, exploitation, child marriage and child labor. Less than 2 percent of the international emergency assistance budget is reserved for education in crisis areas.
The World Humanitarian Summit is a United Nations Summit that started in Istanbul on Monday. The intent of the summit is to improve international emergency aid. Prime Minister Mark Rutte is also attending.
At the summit UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for more "humanity" from the international community. According to him, 2016 is turning into a disastrous year with only 18 percent raised of the $21 billion the UN needs to help all the crisis areas. As a result, victims of war In Syria, Yemen and Iraq have to compete with victims of the earthquakes in Nepal and Ecuador, the drought in Ethiopia, the terror caused by Boko Haram and the mostly "forgotten" starving children in Guatemala and the Central African Republic.
