UN creates education fund for refugee children

UNITED NATIONS – Former British Prime Minster Gordon Brown has announced the creation of the United Nations' first humanitarian fund for education of refugee children .

Acting in his role as U.N. special envoy for global education, Brown said the fund is aimed at reaching the estimated 20 million school-age refugees and displaced persons around the globe who are being denied an education.

The fund, entitled "Education Cannot Wait," will be formally launched at next week's World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and seeks to raise $3.85 billion from 100 donors in the public and private sectors over the next five years.

Speaking by telephone to reporters at the U.N. on Monday, Brown said the number of children who are missing out on schooling due to displacement is becoming a global crisis that will haunt the world for generations.