Legal Responsibility Arising from the Minab School Attack in Light of the Rules Protecting Children’s Rights and the Immunity of Educational Facilities

The protection of children and educational facilities during armed conflicts constitutes one of the fundamental concerns of contemporary international humanitarian law. The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab has raised significant legal questions regarding the adequacy of existing international legal protections for schools and the legal consequences of attacks against educational institutions. This article examines whether schools merely enjoy the general protection afforded to civilian objects or whether, due to the intersection of the right to life, the right to education, and the special protection accorded to children, they should be regarded as deserving enhanced legal protection under international humanitarian law. Employing a descriptive-analytical approach, the study analyzes the legal status of educational facilities in light of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, together with relevant provisions of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The findings suggest that although no autonomous legal regime specifically protecting schools currently exists, a systematic interpretation of humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the fundamental principles governing the protection of civilians requires a more restrictive interpretation of the conditions under which schools may lose their protected status. Accordingly, if the alleged facts concerning the Minab incident are established by a competent authority, the attack would be incompatible with the core obligations of international humanitarian law and could engage both the international responsibility of the responsible State and, where the requisite legal elements are satisfied, individual criminal responsibility for war crimes. The study concludes by emphasizing the necessity of strengthening the legal protection of educational facilities in armed conflicts in order to safeguard children’s fundamental rights