Realising the Right to Education of Girls in Conflict Affected Areas in Uganda

This study explores the realisation of the right to education of girls in conflict affected areas in Uganda. The main contribution of this research is that it ex-plores how conflict affects the right to education of girls and what can be done to improve the realisation of their right to education. It is broadly believed that following conflict, education becomes an essential and targeted way of trans-forming the affected society from being war-torn to reconstruction and reha-bilitation, peace and stability. However, access to education is constrained by a range of factors in conflict affected areas, and the human rights of girls and particularly their right to education often remain a dream far from reality. What is special about post-conflict situatons is the difficulty of ensuring basic secu-rity and rights so girls can go to school. Through reviewing some international and national human rights instruments, interventions and NGO strategies, it becomes clear in this study that human rights instruments and laws in conflict affected areas by themselves are insufficient to realize the right to education of girls. The essential question that remains is: how will quality education of girls be realised to be equal to that of boys, given difficult post-conflict environ-ments such as that in Uganda? This study aims to inform future efforts to build better mechanisms to improve the realisation of rights of girls to education. Ultimately, the aims is to unlock the potential of girls to realise this right them-selves. The study recommends national and international efforts to support and foster an educational culture that promotes and protects the human rights of girls in post-conflict situations.