March 2005
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The Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, deposited his report with the Human Rights Commission, which is holding its sixty-first session from 14 March to 22 April, in Geneva.
In his report, Mr. Muñoz Villalobos returns to the major themes developed by his predecessor, Mrs. Tomasevski: the realization of human rights through education; the battle against discrimination with regard to the right to education, educational quality and security; and the right to education in conflict situations. The general economy of the report leads to the conclusion that the right to education continues to fight against major difficulties but that the political will continues to postpone wanting to surmount them. The Special Reporter skewers in passing those who hold an essentially economic vision of education, believing as he does that we must think again firstly in terms of social as opposed to economic determinants. When an economic vision of education determines its politics, education itself is relegated to second or third position. He emphasizes that the excessive emphasis placed on the mechanisms of the market prevents the full and complete realization of the right to education. According to the Special Rapporteur, the instrumentalisation of education through utilitarian choices leads to inequalities. Inspired by Paolo Freire, he pleads in favour of an education founded on freedom, and the exercise and study of rights and responsibilities. At the same time, the Special Rapporteur wishes that the politics of the World Bank took human rights more firmly into account. The Special Rapporteur insists equally on the importance of reinforcing the legal enforcement of the right to education, constructing indicators for the right to education, and fighting against discrimination, in particular with regard to young girls, migrant populations, handicapped people, indigenous peoples and minorities and, finally, protecting children in urgent situations. In his report, the Special Rapporteur was equally moved to recall that the right to education is not limited strictly to quantitative access to education, but includes the values which reside within it. In the eyes of the Rapporteur, the free expression of pupils and their participation in the activities proposed to them are amongst the essential reference marks in learning and in respect for the rights of the child. The Human Rights Commission is the principle organ in the UN system in the area of human rights. Created in 1946 by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and consisting of 53 State members, the Commission directs studies, prepares recommendations and elaborates projects of international instruments concerning human rights. It can equally investigate allegations concerning violations of human rights. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education was created by Resolution 1998/33 of the Commission. Mrs. Katarina Tomasevski, of Croatia, was named to this position in August 1998. In Resolution 2004/25, approved by the Economic and Social Council in Decision 2004/254, the Commission decided to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur by a period of three years and asked the Special Rapporteur to make her report at its sixty-first session. In July 2004 Mrs. Tomasevski was replaced by Mr. Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, from Costa Rica. References |
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- Education and sustainable development |
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- The Millennium development goals
United Nations website presenting the Millennium goals and a number of statistics relevant to their being attained. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.shtml - La porte du droit Francophone legal directory. Cyberlinks evaluated by a team of lawyers. In French only. http://www.laportedudroit.com/htm/cadre_interview/sosneteu.htm - Educational television on line The website Oasis offers a series of written documents, audios and televisuals on, amongst other topics, education and training, ethics and the new solidarities and citizenship. A data bank on rights and fundamental knowledge is distributed freely to all students and citizens, by means of educational television. There is an interesting documentary on Paolo Freire. In French only http://www.oasis-tv.net/ |
| - The state of the world's children 2005 UNICEF's 2005 report on the situation of children in the world is dedicated to childhood under threat. Armed conflicts, poverty and AIDS figure amongst a number of principle phenomena which deprive children of a better future, and even of their lives. UNICEF also helps children to overcome the psychological distress that accompanies these crises. Helping them to return to school as quickly as possible constitutes a key element to this. Once the children are at school, it is easier to provide them with health care, food, water and adequate rehabilitation. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.shtml - In several countries, compulsory education is an optional measure A report launched jointly on April 20 2004 by the International Bureau of Education and the “Right to Education Project” emphasizes that, in several countries, contradictory laws seriously compromise children's right to education. These authorize children to work, to marry or to be held criminally responsible at an age where, paradoxically, they have compulsory education. . Melchiorre, Angela (2004). “At what age? are school-children employed, married and taken to court ?” The Right to Education Project, Second Edition. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/ http://www.right-to-education.org/ - The rights of indigenous children According to the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, indigenous children constitute one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in the world. Their rights are often badly protected or even flouted, in agricultural as well as urban areas. The problem is found particularly in the following areas: the right of indigenous children to survival and to development, to health, to an education which takes into account their cultural identity, to protection against mistreatment, violence and exploitation, to participation in the decisional processes with regard to questions which concern them. http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/ |
| - CIFEDHOP international training session, July 2005
The International Training Centre on Human Rights and Peace Teaching will hold its 23rd international session in Geneva, next 4 – 9 July. The theme of the session will be “Fundamental Rights: the forgotten objectives of the Millennium?” - International Training Programme on human rights The Canadian Foundation for Human Rights will hold its 26th annual international human rights training session from 12 June to 1 July 2005. |