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Parliament calls on member states to support the Commission's aim of increasing the share of EU humanitarian funds for the education of children in emergencies to 4% and on all host countries to help integrate child refugees in their national education systems, in a resolution passed on Thursday. It points out that education reduces the risk of young people becoming engaged in extremism.

Parliament welcomes the Commission's announcement of its new goal of earmarking 4% of the EU's humanitarian aid budget to education for children in emergency situations by 2019 and calls on member states to support it in the resolution, which was adopted by a show of hands.

Integrating refugee children in national education systems 

MEPs call on countries hosting refugees "to ensure that refugee children are given full access to education, and to promote as far as possible their integration and inclusion in the national education systems". They also call on international donors to prioritise education when responding to refugee crises, through programmes aimed at involving and psychologically supporting migrant children, as well as promoting learning of the host country’s language in order to ensure a higher level of integration.

Breaking the spiral of violence and extremism

MEPs highlight the fact that young people aged between 12 and 20 have very limited opportunities within refugee communities, while at the same time being prima targets for military service and other forms of engagement in armed conflict.

They call on the EU to work with partner countries and other donors to improve educational opportunities for young people in emergencies, given the crucial role that they can play in ensuring post-conflict stability and to reduce at the same time the risk of a "young, out-of-work population causing social upheaval or slipping back into a vicious cycle of violence".

Note to editors

According to UN estimates, one billion children live in conflict-affected areas, of whom 250 million are under the age of five and are denied their fundamental right to education. An estimated 65 million children aged 3 to 15 are most affected by emergencies and protracted crises, with the risk of disruption to their education, and approximately 37 million children of primary and lower secondary age are out of school in crisis-affected countries.