Publications

The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict challenges a widely-held assumption - that education is inevitably a force for good. While stressing the many stabilizing aspects of good quality education, editors Kenneth Bush and Diana Saltarelli show how education can be manipulated to drive a wedge between people, rather than drawing them closer together. After analyzing the increasing importance of ethnicity in contemporary conflicts, this Innocenti Insight outlines the negative and positive faces of education in situations of tension or violence, including the denial of education as a weapon of war (negative) and the cultivation of inclusive citizenship (positive). It emphasizes the need for peacebuilding education that goes further than the 'add good education and stir' approach, aiming to transform the very foundations of intolerance.

The children of an ethnic group, race or religious denomination represent its continuity - they embody a potential for future diversity. This has resulted throughout history in their extreme vulnerability in times of conflict among or involving such groups: they are perceived as the enemies of the future and made prime targets of genocide. Children are also the main victims of less obvious manifestations of ‘everyday’, peacetime discrimination, as infant mortality, infant morbidity and educational attainment data from every part of the world has shown. To investigate ways in which to address these issues, the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre organised a meeting on ‘Discrimination Against Children of Minority Groups and Indigenous Peoples’ in 1994. This publication brings together abridged versions of its main discussion papers.

Educational rights for minority groups may be included in states' education systems and also enshrined intheir statutes. However, states' laws, their declarations and their educational systems are largely normative statements. For many minority groups, the key issue is whether educational practice actually recognises those legal obligations and aspirations and provides a full, effective and fulfiling education for their young people.

Though the relationships between ethnic minorities and dominant societies are multi-faceted and complex, the interrelated but distinct dimensions of marginalization and discrimination provide a useful framework for studying minority groups. Poor children the world over are vulnerable to abuses and violence, exploitation and human rights violations. When, in addition, they belong to disadvantaged minorities, their plight warrants special attention and requires special policies. The paper concludes by exploring several areas relating to minority children which call for further research, not only with the aim of developing the most effective policies for improving the situtation of minority children but also in order to contribute to the creation of a world in which cultural diversity can lead to more, rather than less, tolerance and to the equal enjoyment of human rights by all.