The terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, reflects the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP's) complete disregard for global humanitarian laws, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed in a report.
Describing the attack as an incomprehensible act of horror and brutality, the HRW said that in its war against the Pakistan Government, the TTP has frequently violated international humanitarian law, which forbids armed forces of any kind from subjecting civilians to deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks.
The HRW report further states that between 2009 and 2012, there were at least 838 attacks on schools in Pakistan, leaving hundreds of schools destroyed.
Worldwide, some 30 countries have experienced a pattern of intentional attacks on schools, teachers, and students in the last five years, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, a group of nongovernmental organizations and three United Nations agencies that work together to prevent and respond to such attacks.
The coalition has documented the killings of hundreds of students and educators, with many more injured, during that time. That violence has also denied education to hundreds of thousands of people or forced them to study and teach in fear.
At the very time of the Peshawar attack, 37 countries, led by Norway and Geneva, together with 10 international organizations, were meeting in Geneva to promote the need to protect education in wartime. This tragically timely event launched the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.
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As Peshawar reels from Tuesday's attack, many Pakistanis will look to the government of Pakistan to improve security at its schools to protect students and educators from future such atrocities.
THe HRW said that the government should also strengthen its efforts to arrest and prosecute TTP militants and others who target schools for violence.
Other countries can demonstrate solidarity with the victims of the Peshawar school attack by not only expressing outrage, but by endorsing the Guidelines as an expression of determination that such attacks must come to an end.