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In an unprecedented joint effort on this issue, senior officials from the region’s Ministries of Education announced on 7 November 2024 the creation of a regional cooperation programme to address and prevent violence in the education sector. This initiative follows the commitment established during the Extraordinary Meeting of Ministers of Education in Santiago 2024.

The agreement was reached at the end of the first High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Response to Violence in Education, held in Bogotá from 5 to 7 November, organised by UNESCO and Colombia’s Ministry of Education. This joint initiative aims to strengthen countries' capacity to respond and to promote comprehensive, long-term approaches.

During the meeting in Colombia, education authorities shared experiences, perspectives, and strategies to tackle violence in all its forms.

This event marked the beginning of a regional cooperation agenda grounded in national experiences, evidence, and leadership, to address emerging challenges in increasingly complex contexts shaped by climate change, forced displacement, and conflicts.

The event also included a session with representatives from the United Nations, civil society, youth, and academia, many of whom are members of the Regional Network for Global Citizenship Education. This platform provided an opportunity to discuss support strategies tailored to local realities, enabling an effective and flexible approach to addressing violence.

At the end of the meeting, the authorities urged UNESCO and its partners to lead the development of a regional cooperation programme that leverages the accumulated experience of the countries in the region. This call to action and the agreements reached are key for the participation of Latin America and the Caribbean in the First World Ministerial Conference to End Violence Against Children, also being held in the Colombian capital on 7 and 8 November 2024. The agreements made by the Ministries of Education at this global conference will ensure that educational needs are at the centre of international discussions on violence prevention.

In the words of Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean: “At UNESCO, we are convinced that shared challenges call for common solutions. While some countries have made progress with solutions that integrate adaptation to climate change and its impacts, others have developed responses that address discrimination, racism, and xenophobia in educational contexts. While some countries have developed cross-sectoral policies to improve access to justice, others have advanced in enabling meaningful youth participation in the design and implementation of policies.”

"Today, education in our country and the region faces major challenges, especially in areas affected by the violence of armed conflict and other forms of violence within educational settings. We are pleased that this Summit conveys a united message to tackle these issues in a structural way. We cannot allow the hope of children, adolescents, and young people to be weakened. From this government, we call for the building of a violence-free region, where children grow up with love and respect. Let us move forward with courage and solidarity,” expressed Colombia’s Vice Minister for Higher Education, Ricardo Moreno Patiño.

To ensure the programme’s relevance, UNESCO will coordinate the development of a technical analysis on the causes and characteristics of violence in the educational sector, identifying effective strategies for each context. This analysis will include a report on policies, experiences, and data to identify opportunities and solutions for creating safe educational environments in Latin America and the Caribbean.