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Sexual education 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Sexual education must be free of prejudices and stereotypes that could be used to justify discrimination and violence against any group; it must therefore include a gender perspective that encourages people to think critically about the world around them. Both the hidden curriculum and the omitted curriculum currently play a central role in perpetuating among children the inequalities associated with patriarchal models and drastically reduce children's potential for full development. Sexual education should encourage a rethinking of the stereotypical roles assigned to men and women so that real equality can be achieved.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- However, the Special Rapporteur observes that the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (arts. 4 and 22) and the Migrant Workers Convention reiterate the right to educational choice and the obligation of the contracting States to accord to refugees the same treatment as is accorded to nationals with respect to “elementary education” and to ensure “equal opportunities” with respect to non-elementary education. This includes access, the recognition of certificates and diplomas, the remission of fees and charges and the award of scholarships. Moreover, in accordance with article 28.1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child “equal opportunity” in terms of the “best interest” principle may justify differential treatment of migrant, refugee and asylum-seekers’ children, such as mother-tongue teaching, provided that non-discrimination measures are in place, although in article 45.4 of the Migrant Workers Convention, there is no obligation for receiving States to provide special mother-tongue instruction schemes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is also concerned by the incomplete realization of the right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers (or children thereof) of irregular status. The Special Rapporteur thus welcomes the increasing recognition of equality of treatment irrespective of legal status, as expressed in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Migrant Workers Convention No. 143 (Supplementary Provisions) (arts. 1 and 9), the United Nations Migrant Workers Convention, the final report of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (principle 12) and the 2000 Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (para. 12). The Special Rapporteur, however, views the lack of ratification of, in particular, the United Nations Migrant Workers Convention (which by February 2010 had been signed by only 31 of the 192 United Nations Members, of which virtually all are countries of emigration) as indicative of State apathy in this area.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur further notes that child migrants and refugees, often in search of education and work opportunities, are particularly vulnerable to forced, compulsory and exploitative labour and sexual abuse. International instruments, such as the ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and the European Social Charter (revised) (art. 7.2), establish 15 as the minimum age for both the completion of compulsory schooling and entry into employment. Consequently, the increased reduction of the right to education in elementary schooling undermines the protection of child migrants and refugees from hazardous work. This is related to the understanding that education can, and should, serve as an important tool to protect children from sexual and gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS, military recruitment, crime and drugs, inter alia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur takes this opportunity to emphasize that school learning content and non-formal learning for refugees and asylum-seekers in refugee camps should aim to transmit key life-saving and life-sustaining messages (including landmine and unexploded ordinance awareness, rapid evacuation, skills-based health education, conflict resolution, humanitarian norms, child protection, etc.) in addition to preparation for local integration, repatriation or resettlement. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur specifically draws attention to, and welcomes, the educational work of UNHCR, but encourages increased attention, intensity and breadth in its provision.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Resource constraints, however, remain a major barrier to the realization of the right to education. Prospects for achieving the targets of millennium development goals 2 (Ensuring that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling) and 3 (Eliminating gender disparity in all levels of education no later than 2015) are bleak on account of a dearth of resources. The assessment prepared for the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals underlined the need for scaling up budgets and providing enhanced resources to accelerate progress in meeting those targets. The Education for All Global Monitoring Reports in recent years have consistently pointed to insufficient funding for education. More recently, public expenditure cuts as a consequence of the global financial crisis have threatened to decrease support to the education sector, possibly jeopardizing recent advances. For instance, 7 of 18 low-income countries reduced spending on education in 2009; those countries alone had 3.7 million children out of school.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Schools are often not constructed or maintained to be disaster resilient. An extensive consultation with children around the globe resulted in the recent preparation of a children's charter for disaster risk reduction, which highlights the need for schools to be safe and education not to be interrupted. INEE coordinated the preparation of guidance notes on the necessary steps to ensure the construction of safer schools and the adaptation of existing ones. A major effort is needed to build technical capacity for, and ensure the adoption of, safer standards for education infrastructure to avoid tragedies where seismic or other hazards take the lives of large numbers of children in unsafe schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Challenges faced in achieving equality of opportunity in education were also described in reports submitted by States regarding implementation of the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education – even in countries where educational opportunities are in general widely available, inequalities remain in the ability of all social groups to fully avail themselves of such opportunities. Social and cultural barriers and unequal opportunities manifested in access to quality education remain one of the most serious difficulties of national educational policies. Closing the attainment gap among children from different ethnic groups and differing socio-economic backgrounds appears as a common challenge in these reports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- General comment No. 1 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child highlights the fact that while equality of opportunity in education “is primarily a matter which relates to article 28 of the Convention, there are many ways in which failure to comply with the principles contained in article 29 (1) [concerning the aims of education] can have a similar effect.” The general comment goes on to outline how discrimination based on gender, disability, health status and race can hamper children’s equal access to education. Furthermore, other general comments elaborated by the Committee address the need for temporary special measures to ensure equal access to education for indigenous children and equality of opportunity in education for children with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Report on the Post-2015 Education Agenda 2013, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- Almost no agency of the United Nations system is without some interest in education. The right to education is an integral part of the institutional mission of UNESCO, and is a high priority. Both UNESCO and UNICEF have been tasked with the mission to prepare children for the responsibilities of the future. Education is also important in the work of UNDP as an indispensable tool for poverty reduction strategies. Technical and vocational education and training and skills development have importance in the work of several agencies, such as the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the World Bank, as well.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Report on the Post-2015 Education Agenda 2013, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The right to education for women and girls should be driven by a rights-based approach. That is essential for putting an end to multiple forms of discrimination from which women and girls suffer. A rights-based approach implies that educating women and girls should, a priori, be viewed as a human rights imperative, rather than being undertaken solely because of potential benefits to their children or to society. "Greater equity, including between men and women and among other groups, is not only essential in itself, but also important for promoting human development. One of the most powerful instruments for this purpose is education".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- A large number of cases address the rights of minorities and their language rights. The European Court of Human Rights, for instance, has held that the right to education did not guarantee the right to education in a particular language, or for the State to subsidize education of a particular type. However, article 14 read in conjunction with article 2 of Protocol No. 1 was violated because the legislation prevented children from having access to French-language schools in certain areas solely on the basis of their parents’ residence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Normative action for quality education 2012, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The concept of quality is also at the centre of the Global Compact on Learning initiative to provide quality education to all and to ensure that all children, particularly the most marginalized, have access to quality learning opportunities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur highlights the issues facing families in conflict-affected areas, especially those on precarious incomes. Pertinent is the comment of a refugee who stated that: “shortage of food forces parents to use their children to work”; and another who stated that: “an empty stomach does not have ears”. In such contexts, food and shelter are prioritized over payment of education fees (where imposed) and indirect costs to quality education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Despite deficiencies in monitoring mechanisms, increased attention on the part of the international community to situations of attack against education in emergencies can be noted. In 2010, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack was established by international and non-governmental organizations to jointly promote efforts to prevent, respond to and monitor attacks against education. The Secretary-General included information on such situations in his most recent report on children in armed conflict. The same was done by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, who recalled the importance of protecting schools against attacks and underlined that "enhancing accountability mechanisms for such crimes is key to ensuring that schools remain safe havens and zones of peace".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur considers that enhancing the capacity of mechanisms monitoring situations where education systems are targeted by those involved in armed conflict is essential to end invisibility and impunity. In that regard, he welcomes the recent adoption by the Security Council of resolution 1998 (2011), in which, expressing deep concern about attacks against schools, the Council requested the Secretary-General to include in the annexes to his reports on children and armed conflict information about recurrent attacks on schools and recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools. The Security Council's monitoring and reporting mechanism has already played an important role in the identification of grave violations committed against children in armed conflict, and continuing and growing attention to attacks against schools will be vital to enhance protection of the right to education. To further ensure accountability, the capacity of domestic and international justice systems must also be enhanced, allowing for the prosecution of perpetrators, including non-State actors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Millions of persons continue to be deprived of their right to education in emergencies. Enhanced political attention and sustainable financial support are essential to safeguard this fundamental right. Lack of sufficient attention to education in emergencies continues to affect prospects for achieving both the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All (EFA) goals. The EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2011 underlines that around 28 million children of primary school age in conflict-affected countries are estimated to be currently out of school. This represents 42 per cent of the total number of children in the world who are out of school. Education is also at risk from natural and man-made disasters: an estimated 875 million schoolchildren live in high seismic risk zones and hundreds of millions more face regular flood, landslide, extreme wind and fire hazards, as well as slow onset disasters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families also protects the right to education on a basis of equality. Specifically, article 30 states that “each child of a migrant worker shall have the basic right of access to education on the basis of equality of treatment with nationals of the State concerned.” Articles 43 and 45 further emphasize equality of treatment for migrant workers and members of their families in relation to access to educational institutions, as well as vocational training.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Poverty is one of the main obstacles to realizing the right to education. Similarly, education is recognized as a powerful lever to pull children out of poverty and empower them. Nationally and internationally agreed targets for poverty reduction will be missed, and inequalities among countries and within societies will widen, if progress towards Education for All is not accelerated. The magnitude of the challenge in promoting equal opportunities in education can be gauged by the fact that the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger surpasses one billion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Normative action for quality education 2012, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Quality education will remain elusive so long as education systems practise marginalization and exclusion. Bringing about de facto equality of opportunity in education necessitates an equity-based approach to education. Through education laws and policy, States need to give particular consideration to the educational needs of economically and socially marginalized groups, such as those living in poverty, ethnic and linguistic minorities, children with disabilities and indigenous children. In this regard, Human Rights Council resolution 17/3 urges States to give full effect to the right to education by ensuring adequate legal protection and addressing multiple forms of inequality and discrimination in education through comprehensive policies. An example of an inclusive approach is provided by Spain’s Organic Education Law (2006), which centers around the fundamental principle of quality of education for all students, combined with equity and equal opportunities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Normative action for quality education 2012, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- In this context, attention must be paid to ensure that the adoption of quality standards for education does not further penalize schools in poorer and marginalized neighbourhoods. National or international assessment of students’ performance, for example, should not adversely affect the fate of students and schools in marginalized pockets of society. Some ranking exercises might result in favouring well-served schools in wealthier areas and reinforcing stigmatization of schools in poorer areas. Such exercises might also cause schools to reject underperforming children and further exacerbate marginalization. Provisions in the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education are highly pertinent in this respect.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Jurisprudence based on national legislation can also lead to affirmative action to support the right to education. In South Africa, based on the allegation by the Eastern Cape District School Association that failure by the provincial Government to pay necessary hostel, transport, and boarding subsidies, impaired rural children of the district from attending school, the South African Human Rights Commission found this to be a violation of the rights of affected learners to basic education, and recommended that payments of these subsidies be made.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 106
- Paragraph text
- The questioning of the privatization of education in Ghana by both the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (see CEDAW/C/GHA/Q/6-7) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (see CRC/C/GHA/Q/3-5) is a welcome development. In October 2014, the Committee on the Rights of the Child asked Ghana to provide detailed information on the reasons behind the increase in private education, which limits access to quality education for children who cannot afford private school tuitions (ibid.). The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has asked the Government of Uganda to provide information on the impact of the growth of private education on the right to education of girls and children living in poverty (see E/C.12/UGA/Q/1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Financing education and update on education in emergencies 2011, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- General Assembly resolution 64/290 reflects States' recognition of the urgency of ensuring the realization of the right to education as an integral element of humanitarian assistance and response. Debate and research efforts within the United Nations system are helping to unveil what has been called a "hidden crisis" by the EFA Global Monitoring Report. Thematic days of discussion focused on the topic were conducted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2008 and the General Assembly in 2009.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. (g)
- Paragraph text
- Freedom from violence and the right to education: If schools play a central role in the prevention of violence and the promotion of a culture of peace, it is also true that violence can often take place in the school context with serious consequences for the enjoyment of the right to education. The Rapporteur intends to address the emerging concern of violence in schools in close collaboration with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Other groups vulnerable to limited opportunities in education and requiring targeted support include persons with disabilities, children living in the street or without parental care, migrant workers and their families, refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by natural disasters or conflict. Moreover, nomad populations, including pastoral populations who remain deprived of equal opportunities in education, deserve special attention, especially in Africa.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Sexual education 2010, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- It is estimated that by the end of 2008, 33.4 million people around the world were living with HIV, and the number of AIDS-related deaths that year was estimated at 2 million; almost 300,000 of that number were children.5 In addition, various studies have revealed increasing links between violence against women and HIV/AIDS. Women who have experienced violence are at a higher risk of HIV infection. The need to provide the population with sexual education as a means of prevention has been emphasized repeatedly. Thus, HIV/AIDS highlights the close link between the right to comprehensive sexual education and the right to health and to life.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur also draws attention to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 26), which views the right to education as comprising: (a) fundamental education, which refers to free, often non-formal education for illiterate people, with a strong collective and cultural emphasis for human development (“community education”); and (b) elementary education, i.e., free compulsory formal education which, while not specifying any particular level(s) or stage(s), normatively integrated free post-primary education. Article 26 of the Declaration, and subsequent international human rights law, also guarantee the right of parents and legal guardians to choose their children’s education in conformity with their religious, moral or philosophical convictions. States, however, are not legally obliged to provide instruction in line with such choices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur consequently prompts States that have not included the unconditional right to education in their Constitution to take steps to do so. Two examples are indicative of best practice in this regard. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, defined by its Government as traditionally a migrant-receiving country, guarantees the unrestricted right to education at all levels through its Constitution and migrants are entitled to free education from early childhood care to higher education. Furthermore, its schools are explicitly obliged to permit the registration of undocumented children. The Government of Portugal emphasizes that national legislation also explicitly includes irregular and undocumented migrant and refugee children in the right to education with the concomitant creation of a special registry for irregular minors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Equality of opportunity in education 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Efforts to universalize access to education over the last decades are underpinned by repeated political commitments. The EFA and Millennium Development Goals campaigns inspired expansions of primary education systems and created more education opportunities for girls. However, progress is fragile and uneven across regions and among population groups. Unprecedented disparities in access and quality emerge as the demand for education grows and education systems expand. Significant gaps remain even in the coverage of education as there are about 67 million children of primary school age who are out of school; while a larger number of adolescents (another 71 million), remain deprived of basic post-primary education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph