Conflict, politics and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Implications for education in emergencies

The conflict in Ukraine and the growing mass exodus is the most recent convulsive humanitarian crisis the world has experienced.  

In the last two decades, terrible wars have been fought in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and emergencies and displacement have been a feature of education in many countries. The events of the last few weeks evoke painful responses for students and staff and resonate with many historic experiences of conflict, dispossession, and the silencing and erasure linked to humanitarian crises. 

The war in Ukraine is rooted in three main conflict dynamics and the panel will address these and its implications:

• First, is the marginalised position of Ukraine as a border state between two political, economic and ideological systems. 
• Second, is Putin’s denial of the distinct identity of Ukrainians, ascriptions of pan -Slavic and even Russian identity and redefinition of history of the unification of Ukrainian territories as artificial combination of acquired lands. 
• Third, the international community and the US administration did not create strong response to the Russian invasion in Georgia in 2008, annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014. 

This event will be particularly useful for those interested in peace and conflict, education in emergencies and humanitarian crises. 

Education in Conflict and Emergencies seminar series

This webinar is part of this series. This seminar series is designed to create an opportunity for critical debates in the subfield of education, conflict and peacebuilding and promote a critical understanding of the interactions between education, conflict and international development.

Related links

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies seminar series
• Department of Education, Practice and Society
• Centre for Education and International Development

Image

• DFID - UK Department for International Development via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)