Almost half of all children surveyed living in neighbourhoods where criminal gangs are present in Honduras and El Salvador do not have access to education, according to new reports by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“Criminal violence is wreaking havoc on the lives of countless children in El Salvador and Honduras. Bright futures are being stolen every time that children are too afraid to attend school, and are forced to drop out. The future of an entire generation of boys and girls is at risk,” warned Christian Visnes, country director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Colombia.
Two new reports called “A Generation Out Of School” found that children living in areas with violence in El Salvador and Honduras experience pressure, intimidation, sexual harassment and traumatic abuse by criminal groups. Their daily walk to school is dangerous and involves passing through gang territory or staying limited to one side of the community to not stray into rival gang territory.
Violent criminal groups are also present in classrooms and playgrounds. Gang members have succeeded in infiltrating the schools themselves and routinely promote the sale of drugs to minors, extort teachers and students, and carry out recruitment, surveillance and intelligence activities.
“My older kids werent able to study. I wanted them to graduate, but it wasnt possible. All my children have fled from the violence”, said a parent in Tegucigalpa.
In some areas, families are pressured to pay war taxes to criminal groups. They are then often unable to pay for uniforms and school materials for the children who continue to attend classes despite the many risks. Many families surveyed said that they do not feel safe in their homes. Only one third plan on staying in their homes, the rest plan on leaving their neighborhoods to find somewhere safer to live in their countries, or are completely unsure about their futures.
“Ending the systemic violence starts in the classroom. We need international support to make schools safe places to learn and grow, so that the next generation of Hondurans and Salvadorans dont turn to criminal gangs,” said Visnes.
Key Figures
- For the past four years, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) interviewed more than 5,000 households in communities affected by violence in Honduras and El Salvador, to identify children who have been forced to drop out of school, in order to provide opportunities for them to return to school.
- The reports reveal that half of all children interviewed are out of school in Honduras while 40 per cent are out of school in El Salvador. In total, 3,400 children surveyed living in neighbourhoods where criminal gangs are present in both Honduras and El Salvador are out of school.
- Families reported that they do not feel safe, and only a third plan on staying in their current homes in Honduras, while in El Salvador one of every two families plan on staying in their current homes.
- The impact of violence on daily life was tangible throughout NRCs research. As a result of violence, such as homicides in the community or tensions after police raids, NRC had to suspend its activities several times during the research period, and the whole operation took double the amount of time planned.
- Reports were funded by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and NORAD.
