[International obligations and access to remedies]

Belgium back --» back to introduction --» United Nations Treaties Date of admission to UN: 27 December 1945. - International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights - ICESCR Ratified: 21 April 1983. Reports submitted/due: 2/3 No reservations - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - ICCPR Ratified: 21 April 1983. Reports submitted/due: 3/4 No reservation related to the right to education. Optional Protocol: Acceded: 17 May 1994. - International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination - CERD Ratified: 7 August 1975. Reports submitted/due: 13/14 No reservation related to the right to education. - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - CEDAW Ratified: 10 July 1985. Reports submitted/due: 4/5 No reservation related to the right to education. - Convention on the Rights of the Child - CRC Ratified: 16 December 1991. Reports submitted/due: 2/2 No reservations. ILO treaties ILO 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (1948) - date of ratification: 23.10.1951 ILO 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention (1949) - date of ratification: 10.12.1953 ILO 111 Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation (1958) - date of ratification: 22.03.1977 ILO 138 Minimum Age Convention (1973) - date of ratification: 19.04.1988. ILO 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999) - date of ratification: 08.05.2002 European System Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms - European Convention - ECHR Date of Ratification: 14.06.1955 Protocol Nº 01 to the European Convention Date of Ratification: 14.06.1955 Constitutional Guarantees of the right to education Date of adoption/date of entry into force - 17 February 1994 Relevant Provisions (…) Title II - Belgians and their rights Art.24 - Education §1 Education is free; any preventive measure shall be forbidden; the misdemeanors shall be regulated only by law or decree. The Community shall guarantee the freedom of choice of parents. The Community provides neutral instruction. Neutrality implies, in particular, respect for the philosophical, ideological, or religious conceptions of parents and pupils. The school provided by the public authorities shall offer, up through the end of obligatory schooling, a choice between instruction in one of the recognized religions and instruction in non-religious morality. §3 Every person has a right to instruction which respects fundamental rights and liberties. Access to instruction shall be without charge up through the end of obligatory schooling. All pupils of obligatory schooling age shall have the right, at Community expense, to moral or religious education. All pupils, students, parents, staff members and institutions of instruction are equal before the law or decree. Laws and decrees shall take into account objective differences, such as characteristics specific to each dispensing authority, which justify appropriate treatment.