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Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
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Issues and challenges to the right to education in the digital age 2016, para. 131 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Civil society organizations and the intellectual community, as well as students, parents and community associations, should expose the negative effects of digital technologies on the right to education, underlining, in particular, the essential objectives laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights conventions. They should voice their concerns about the need to safeguard human values in respect of the right to education in the face of digital modes of education. Their advocacy work to foster social justice and equity is valuable in countering market-based approaches promoting the use of technology in education. Research, events and expert consultations on the right to education in the digital age should be encouraged and supported. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2016 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 99 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Regulations must ban for-profit education and prohibit fee-based discrimination because it creates and entrenches social and economic inequalities. Prohibitive regulations can ban the registration of private schools as companies, the recruitment of unqualified teachers or those employed in public schools, the closure of schools during an academic year, indulgence in false commercial propaganda to lure insufficiently informed students and parents, the charging of capitation fees and the extraction from students or parents of any undeclared financial contribution over and above the approved fee. Regulations must prohibit school selection on the basis of ability, social or ethnic origin, or any form of psychometric tests. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 43 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Entitlement to education in terms of universal access is an essential prerequisite for the exercise of the right to education. However, privatization breeds exclusion, as those who are disadvantaged are unable to access private schools. This aggravates existing disparities in access to education, further marginalizing the poor. Furthermore, voucher schemes purported to provide economically disadvantaged parents with the means to select a private school in fact promote group differentiation. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 92 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Independent judicial systems and independent human rights mechanisms are necessary for ensuring that laws and regulations are enforced. It is also important that judges be well-versed in the international obligations of States on the right to education. Regulations on private providers should be widely publicized so as to make them better known, especially among parents, teachers and community members and organizations, and should allow for any entity or individual to initiate legal action in cases of abusive or illegal practices by private providers. Supporting public interest litigation safeguarding the right to education against forces of privatization is also important. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Public-private partnerships in education 2015, para. 34 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation have been key proponents of public-private partnerships and have been particularly instrumental in facilitating the replication of what they consider to be successful pilots or experiments in partnerships between Governments and the private sector. A small cluster of large, powerful, global management firms have taken large interests in such public-private partnerships. Outsourcing education activities to profit-making corporations opens the space for them not only to make a profit, but also to steer education agendas in ways that may not be in the best interest of students, parents and teachers and thus societies as a whole. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Public-private partnerships in education 2015, para. 44 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Public-private partnerships in education may take many forms and arrangements, such as contractual arrangements with the private sector for public school infrastructure or school management, to operate public schools or manage certain aspects of public school operations. Public-private partnerships can also involve government purchases of education services delivered by private schools or private entities. Capacity-building initiatives, the training of public school teachers and curriculum enhancement programmes delivered by the private sector are other forms of public-private partnerships. Voucher systems, which provide government grants for students from low-income families to enrol in private schools, also amount to public-private partnerships. Another modality of public-private partnerships is the provision of cash and in-kind resources by private sector partners to complement government funding of public schools or "adopt a school" programmes. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 41 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | UNESCO and the International Organization of la Francophonie have expressed concern with sweeping privatization in education reducing education to a commodity: "With diversification in the field of education, the private providers - international or local - are more and more numerous. International consortiums have [become] specialized in 'selling' education. A number of local figures, including many teachers and even educational authorities, are creating schools for profit, turning to rather wealthy families with slogans extolling the quality [of the school] or are turning towards the disadvantaged public with altruistic slogans, which often hide the profit or political character of their endeavours. One can observe, above all, the emergence of a quasi-market phenomenon". | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 47 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The State is primarily responsible for respecting, fulfilling and protecting the right to education. The liberty of parents and guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions and the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions provided for in article 13 (3) and (4) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is not unfettered. Such freedom in education is subject to compliance with minimum standards in education, to which all private educational institutions are required to conform. The failure to ensure that private educational institutions conform to the minimum educational standards required in articles 13 (3) and (4) constitutes a violation of the right to education. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Public-private partnerships in education 2015, para. 50 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Voucher systems, which support parents to send students to public or private schools, amount to public-private partnership arrangements, which promote privatization. The experience of Chile demonstrates the negative consequences of a voucher system in creating social stratification. Education service contracting in the Philippines, providing a public subsidy for each student opting to enrol in eligible private schools, is fraught with similar consequences, exacerbating inequities and social segregation. The Punjab Education Foundation in Pakistan, which sources funds from donors and financial institutions (in mixed loans and grants) and allocates vouchers to selected private schools, allows private individuals to manage government-created foundations as public-private partnerships, which is detrimental to public investment in education. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Public-private partnerships in education 2015, para. 142 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Rapporteur calls upon civil society organizations and the intellectual community, as well as students, parents and community associations, to expose the negative effects of public-private partnerships in education. He encourages them to voice their concerns more strongly and widely, as an essential function of the social compact for education, in an endeavour to forge a global movement against the negative impact and abusive practices of privatization and public-private partnerships in education, reducing it to a business. Their advocacy work for fostering social justice and equity is valuable to counter market-based approaches in education. Research, events and expert consultations on the effects of public-private partnerships in education and on the exercise and enjoyment of the right to education should be encouraged and supported. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 57 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Discrimination based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status is prohibited in international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2 (2)). Private providers do not respect the prohibited grounds of discrimination and violate fundamental principles of non-discrimination in human rights law: social origin, economic condition, birth or property are the preponderant factors in allowing access to private schools. It is the obligation of States to ensure the right to education without discrimination or exclusion. Privatization in education also has repercussions on girls' right to education, as families prioritize the education of boys over girls. Any scheme of "vouchers purported to provide economically disadvantaged parents the means to select a private school in fact promotes group differentiation". | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Public-private partnerships in education 2015, para. 132 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Public authorities, parent-teacher associations, civil society groups and teachers' unions must closely monitor public-private partnerships in education. Public authorities should carefully review any commercial marketing and advertisement of education and take action in all cases of misleading claims as to quality, or any other fraudulent practices. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 95 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | It should be mandatory for private providers to be transparent and to share with parents, teachers and community associations information regarding school functioning, performance and management. A regulatory framework should clearly spell out the duties and responsibilities of private providers vis-à-vis the community, students, teachers and society at large. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 102 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Rapporteur urges public authorities, parent-teacher associations, civil society groups and teachers' unions to closely monitor publicity and false claims that promote private providers in education. Public authorities should look into all cases of commercial advertising in education and take action in all cases of misleading claims as to quality education. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Protecting education against commercialization 2015, para. 103 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | It is important that States carefully enforce laws, rules and regulations through monitoring and enforcement. Governments should strengthen national human rights mechanisms or ombudspersons to provide parents with a place to report suspected violations, and empower such bodies to investigate allegations. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2015 | ||
Privatization and the right to education 2014, para. 87 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Since education is a social responsibility involving parents, the community, teachers, students and other stakeholders, they can have recourse to complaints procedures and human rights protection mechanisms in cases of violation of the right to education, abusive practices and corruption by private providers. The Special Rapporteur would like to encourage a system that provides the possibility for any entity or individual to initiate legal action in the case of abusive practices by private providers as public-interest litigation. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 74 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The aptitude of students should be given serious consideration in assessing their attainments. The evaluation of the abilities and aptitudes of children in consultation with parents and teachers can be useful in enabling them to realize their potential, leading to better attainments. In Lithuania, for example, evaluation in primary and basic education is driven by the concept of the assessment of pupils' achievement and progress, encouraging positive personal features and creativity and improving personal achievements. The main idea is assessment for learning, not assessment of learning. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 78 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In this context, it is important to note that, whereas parents and guardians are at liberty to choose private schools for their children, pursuant to article 13 (3) and (4) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, education in such schools must conform to the educational objectives set out in article 13 (1) of the Covenant and "such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State". Those minimum standards may relate to issues such as admission, curricula and the recognition of certificates. In their turn, those standards must be consistent with the educational objectives set out in article 13 (1). | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Privatization and the right to education 2014, para. 40 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Another document prepared by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning and the International Organization of la Francophonie also highlights similar developments, expressing similar concerns about sweeping privatization in education reducing education to a commodity: "With diversification in the field of education, private providers - international or local - are more and more numerous. International consortiums have [become] specialized in 'selling' education. A number of local figures, including many teachers and even educational authorities, are creating schools for profit, turning to rather wealthy families with slogans extolling the quality [of the school] or are turning towards the disadvantaged public with altruistic slogans, which often hide the profit or political character of their endeavours. One can observe, above all, the emergence of a quasi-market phenomenon. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Assessment of the educational attainment of students 2014, para. 24 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | States have the primary responsibility for ensuring that their national education systems meet the objectives assigned to education in international human rights treaties. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, schools must provide education which is respectful of human rights values, democratic citizenship and cultural diversity. According to the principles contained in article 29 (1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the education of the child shall be directed to "the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own." The education to which every child has a right is one which is "designed to provide the child with life skills, to strengthen the child's capacity to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture which is infused by appropriate human rights values." Yet, as the Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated, national and international programmes and policies on education that really count the elements embodied in article 29 (1) seem all too often to be either largely missing or present only as a cosmetic afterthought. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Privatization and the right to education 2014, para. 105 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The regulatory framework should expound the grounds on which discrimination in education is prohibited in international human rights conventions, as highlighted in the present report. It should also specify the duties and responsibilities of private providers vis-à-vis parents, the community and society at large. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Privatization and the right to education 2014, para. 35 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Private providers find it lucrative to provide early childhood care and education, which has remained scantly covered by the public education system. In most developing countries, the public education system is rudimentary in this respect and private providers have an open market for catering to working families and the middle class. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Privatization and the right to education 2014, para. 47 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Privatization in education also exacerbates discrimination against girls in gaining access to education. It is well known that families prioritize the education of boys over girls and that girls are less likely to be enrolled in private education owing to parents' perceived return on the costs of educating girls compared to that of boys. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2014 | ||
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 54 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 82n | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [Bearing in mind the key importance of the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement, and with a view to fostering protective as well as promotional role of adjudication mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur would like to offer the following recommendations:] Governments have the primary responsibility to disseminate such information. However, the media and civil society can play an important role in sharing information with disadvantaged groups, and should be engaged and supported where possible. The national education system should also inform students, teachers and parents of their respective rights and obligations, and how violations, when they arise, should be addressed, ranging from parent-teacher interviews and school administrative complaint procedures, to national human rights mechanisms and even international mechanisms where applicable. In particular, low-cost or free mechanisms, including those available through national or regional human rights bodies, UNESCO’s complaints and communication procedure, and the Optional Protocol should be made widely known. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 82h | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [Bearing in mind the key importance of the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement, and with a view to fostering protective as well as promotional role of adjudication mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur would like to offer the following recommendations:] Children and adults who are primary beneficiaries of the right to education are often unaware of their rights. In many cases, parents, while motivated, may lack information or the financial resources to protect their right to education in courts. Civil society and media can play an important role in disseminating information regarding the right to education to parents, teachers and school administrators, and also in identifying and publicizing violations of the right to education. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 82j | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [Bearing in mind the key importance of the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement, and with a view to fostering protective as well as promotional role of adjudication mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur would like to offer the following recommendations:] Litigation promoting the right to education is in the public interest. Violations of the right to education may be voiced in the media, but they must also be subject to effective adjudication. For this reason, legal standing should be given the broadest possible interpretation, to allow not just affected children, but also their parents and other education stakeholders to bring complaints before judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. Poor and disadvantaged persons may be unwilling to pursue their rights, out of fear of reprisals, lack of financial resources, or unwillingness to challenge State authorities. Quasi-judicial institutions should be empowered to initiate investigations suo moto, and third parties, including non-governmental actors, should be able to initiate cases before courts and human rights institutions where the available evidence supports them. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Report on the Post-2015 Education Agenda 2013, para. 76 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Education systems of tomorrow need to be designed so that they clearly delineate the roles and responsibility of various stakeholders, which include communities, local bodies, teachers and parents. To that end, a legal framework should be put in place that applies to all providers of education, public and private, and is fully respectful of the right to education as a fundamental human right, with Governments having primary responsibility, in keeping with human rights obligations. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Justiciability of the right to education 2013, para. 78 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Courts and even adjudicative bodies may at times insist on the formality of their procedures, severely disadvantaging anyone without legal representation. Procedures to bring claims must be simplified for unrepresented claimants, and kept as informal as possible for quasi-judicial institutions. Rules with respect to legal standing to bring a claim should allow not just a child and their parents, but also third parties to bring a claim based on the alleged violation, in order to ensure that cultural constraints, or threats against the victims, do not prevent cases from emerging. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 | ||
Report on the Post-2015 Education Agenda 2013, para. 45 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Education is a continuum that begins before formal primary education starts and continues after secondary school. The importance of early childhood care and education along with the role of family is crucial in preparing children for education and is a welcome inclusion to the agenda. The post-2015 development agenda must also address the needs of millions of adults in terms of basic levels of literacy and numeracy, linking that to skill development. | Special Rapporteur on the right to education | Special Procedures' report |
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| 2013 |