22 June 2017 – With Uganda hosting almost one million South Sudanese refugees &#8220as sisters and brothers and sharing with them their land and everything they have,&#8221 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged the international community to show solidarity with those that had fled their homes, as well as with the Ugandan Government and people.

&#8220In a world where so many people are selfishly closing their doors, closing their borders, not allowing refugees to come, this example deserves praise [and] admiration from the whole international community,&#8221 Mr. Guterres told reporters at the Imvepi Refugee Reception Centre in the Arua district of northern Uganda.

Imvepi is the first stop for many South Sudanese refugees once they cross the border into Uganda. The camp, which opened in February this year, is already filling up; hosting some 120,000 refugees, mostly women and children, fleeing violence and instability in the neighbouring country.

In just the past year, the overall refugee population in Uganda has more than doubled &#8211 from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million &#8211 making the East African country host to the world’s fastest growing refugee emergency.

The UN chief pointed out that tomorrow, the international community would have the opportunity to express its solidarity, &#8220responding to our appeal for massive financial support, both for humanitarian aid for the refugees, but also for the investments necessary for the education system, the health system, the infrastructure, the [local] environment, to be able to cope with this enormous challenge.&#8221

Mr. Guterres was referring to the ‘Solidarity Summit,’ which opened today in the Ugandan capital, Kamapla, and is expected to wrap up tomorrow. Co-hosted by Uganda and the UN, the event aims to rally international support for refugees and host communities in the form of donations, investments and innovative programmes.

Secretary-General António Guterres speaks to media in the Imvepi refugee camp in Uganda. UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN chief meets South Sudan refugees in the camp who are awaiting relocation. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Mr. Guterres and David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, serve food at the Imvepi Camp reception area for the newly arrived refugees. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General António Guterres and Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister of Uganda, speak with host community representatives on issues relating to the refugee situation. UN Photo/Mark Garten

The ‘Solidarity Summit,’ in the Ugandan capital of Kamapla aims to rally international support for refugees and host communities in the form of donations, investments and innovative programmes. UN Photo/Mark Garten

“Peace in South Sudan is a must for these people to be able to have a future,” said the Secretary-General. UN Photo/Mark Garten

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&#8220At the same time, I cannot forget that twelve years ago I was here, in June, in this same place. I was [marking] World Refugee Day with South Sudanese refugees that were singing with joy because they were going back home soon,&#8221 said Mr. Guterres, who is the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees. He said he had later accompanied many of them across the border with the hope that the their new country would live in peace.

Unfortunately, that had not been the case. South Sudan’s leaders &#8220do not deserve the people of their country,&#8221 said the Secretary-General, stressing that the South Sudanese people have been suffering enormously [in an] endless war.&#8221

&#8220It is time for the war to end. It is time for all the leaders of South Sudan to understand that they need to stop this war,&#8221 he said, expressing gratitude for the efforts made by the Heads of State of the region, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union and by the UN to help create the conditions for peace to be re-established.

&#8220Peace in South Sudan is a must for these people to be able to have a future,&#8221 said the Secretary-General.

22 June 2017 – While a new United Nations study shows that the global poverty rate could be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school, data show high out-of-school rates in many countries, making it likely that education completion levels will remain well below that target for generations.

&#8220The new analysis on education’s far-reaching benefits released today should be good news for all those working on the Sustainable Development Goal to eradicate poverty by 2030,&#8221 said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

&#8220It shows that we have a concrete plan to ensure people no longer have to live on barely a few dollars a day, and that plan has education at its heart,&#8221 she added.

Based on the effects that education had on growth and poverty reduction in developing countries from 1965 to 2010, the new analysis by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team, shows that nearly 60 million people could escape poverty if all adults had just two more years of schooling.

&#8220If all adults completed secondary education, 420 million could be lifted out of poverty, reducing the total number of poor people by more than half globally and by almost two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,&#8221 according to UNESCO.

The paper, from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on reducing global poverty through universal primary and secondary education, is being released ahead of the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) which will be held in New York from 10 to 19 July and focuses on poverty eradication in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It demonstrates the importance of recognizing education as a core lever for ending poverty in all its forms, everywhere.

Studies have shown that education has direct and indirect impacts on both economic growth and poverty. It provides skills that boost employment opportunities and incomes while helping to protect from socio-economic vulnerabilities. An equitable expansion of education is likely to reduce inequality, lifting the poorest from the bottom of the ladder.

However, if current trends continue, of the 61 million primary school age children currently out of school, 17 million will never to set foot in a classroom &#8211 one in three of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Northern Africa, and more than one in four of those in Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Moreover, girls in poor countries continue to face particularly steep barriers to education.

While UNESCO underscores that education must reach the poorest in order to maximize its benefits and reduce income inequality, according to the GEM Report, children from the poorest 20 per cent of families are eight times as likely to be out of school as children from the richest 20 per cent in lower-middle-income countries.

The paper stresses the need to reduce the direct and indirect costs of education for families.