Protecting Human Rights in Emergency Situations: The Example of the Right to Education

The focus of this chapter is on the protection of human rights in emergency situations, with particular reference to the right to education since education is not only a human right in itself but also ‘an indispensable means of realizing other human rights’.1 Thus, protecting the right to education in emergency situations can reinforce the protection of other human rights by creating a more favourable environment for the realization of human rights – for example, by empowering women, safeguarding children from exploitative and hazardous labour and sexual exploitation, promoting human rights and democracy, and protecting the environment.2