United Kingdom
Department for
International Development (DFID)
Rights-based
development
Education defined as
a human right?
Commitment to free
and compulsory education
Non-discrimination
(race, ethnicity, religion, minority, disability)
Gender
Trends inUK Aid
Aid for Education
Rights-based
development
"Human
rights play a crucial role in the UK
Government’s international development
programme, which is committed to the elimination
of extreme or absolute poverty."1
"A human
rights approach to development focuses on
empowering all people to claim their rights to
the opportunities and services made available
through pro-poor development. DFID has identified
three underlying principles, integral to the
realisation of all human rights and the
achievement of the International Development
Targets:
- Participation:
enabling people to realise their rights
to participate in, and access information
relating to, decision-making processes
which affect their lives.
- Inclusion:
building socially inclusive societies,
based on the values of equality and
non-discrimination, through development
which promotes all human rights for all
people.
- Fulfilling
obligation: strengthening institutions
and policies which ensure that
obligations to protect and promote the
realisation of all human rights are
fulfilled by states and other duty
bearers." 2
"We shall:
Give particular attention to human rights,
transparent and accountable government and core
labour standards, building on the Government's
ethical approach to international
relations." 3
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Education defined
as a human right?
"The right
to education is a basic human right, enshrined in
the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights
and re-affirmed at Jomtien 1990, Cairo 1994, and
Beijing 1995."4
"The
importance of education to individual, community
and national development is reflected in its
recognition as a human right…"5
"Poor
people have rights to education and health, to an
adequate livelihood including food, water and
housing, to just and favourable conditions of
work, to security and freedom from
violence." 6
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Commitment to free
and compulsory education
"primary
education must as far as possible be free."
7
"While the
aim is free primary education, the instant
introduction of fee abolition may not be the most
appropriate in every context." 8
"The UK
Government will…work to ensure that primary
education is free for all, that no government
seriously committed to universal primary
education is unable to achieve this for lack of
resources, and work with international
institutions and developing countries to make
faster progress towards the education
targets." 9
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Non-discrimination
(race,ethnicity, religion, minority, disability)
"Children
with disabilities have the same right to
education as other children." 10
"Education
should be ‘inclusive’, responding
flexibly to the needs and circumstances of all
excluded children."11
"A human
rights perspective on responses to overcome
exclusion requires greater attention to issues of
diversity and cultural rights. DFID will:
…Support language policies that promote
cultural rights of minorities…" 12
" Every
man, woman and child is entitled to enjoy their
human rights, merely on the basis of their
humanity and regardless of any distinguishing
characteristics such as race, gender, creed,
opinion and class…Human rights necessary for
survival and dignified living include…the
right to education…" 13
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Gender
"DFID is
committed to the achievement of Universal Primary
Education (UPE) and gender equality as priorities
for development." 14
"DFID’s
education programmes aim to provide more
children, especially girls, with access to
primary schooling; a better quality of education
resulting in reduced drop-out rates; and the
establishment of effective primary education
systems which will remain locally run and locally
funded when our partnership ends." 15
"We take
every opportunity in our bilateral and
multilateral contacts to promote gender
mainstreaming, including integrating a gender
perspective into poverty eradication policies and
programmes by governments." 16
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Trends in UK Aid
- The United
Kingdom’s place among 22 DAC donors17
Net ODA
volume:
-5th in 1999 (US$3.40b)
-4th in 2000 (US$4.46b)
ODA/GNP:
-18th in 1999 (0.23%)
-9th in 2000 (0.31%)
- In 1999, 8.2%
of bilateral aid commitments were tied to
goods and services from the United
Kingdom.19
- 1 April 2001
marked the beginning of the United
Kingdom’s efforts to "end the
tying of all remaining development
assistance to the procurement of British
goods and services."20
- The United
Kingdom has pledged to increase its
ODA/GNI ratio to 0.33% by 2003/0421
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Aid for Education
- In 1999, the
United Kingdom committed 9.6% of
bilateral ODA to Education, and 3.0% to
basic education22
- In 1997/98
the United Kingdom committed 24% of
bilateral ODA to basic social services23
- In 2000, the
Secretary of State for International
Development claimed: "total
education commitments of £800 million,
with nearly 80 per cent of these
resources allocated to basic and primary
education sectors"24
- "In July
2000 the government announced an annual
increase of 6.2 per cent in development
assistance spending in real terms over
the next three years. This takes the UK
aid budget to its highest level ever,
almost £3.6 billion, by 2003-4. The
UK’s international aid will
represent 0.33 per cent of GNP, moving
towards the UN target of 0.7 per cent.
Much of this aid, directly or indirectly,
benefits children."25
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1 Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Human Rights
Annual Report 2001, London, September 2001,
p.73.
2 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
Realising Human Rights for Poor People,
October 2000, p.10.
3 Secretary of State for
International Development. Eliminating World
Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st
Century, White Paper on International
Development, November, 1997.
4 Department for
International Development. Departmental
Report, 1999-2000 to 2001-2002, March, 1999,
Para.2.27.
5 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
October 2000, p.11.
6 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
Realising Human Rights for Poor People, p.12.
7
Department
for International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
p.18.
8 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
p.22.
9 Secretary of State for
International Development. Eliminating World
Poverty: Making Globalization Work for the Poor.
White Paper on International Development,
December 2000, p.47.
10 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
p.17.
11
Department
for International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
p.22.
12
Department
for International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
Realising Human Rights for Poor People, p.26.
13
Secretary
of State for International Development. Eliminating
World Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st
Century, White Paper on International Development
p.37.
14 Department for
International Development. Strategies for
Achieving the International Development Targets:
The Challenge of Universal Primary Education,
p.32.
15 Department for
International Development. Departmental Report
2001: The Government’s Expenditure Plans
2001/2002 to 2003/2004 and Main Estimates
2001/2002, p.52.
16 Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Human Rights
Annual Report 2001, p.82.
17 DAC/OECD. Development
Co-operation Report, 2000.
18 DAC/OECD. Development
Co-operation Report, 2000.
19 DAC/OECD. Development
Co-operation Report, 2000.
20 DAC/ OECD. United
Kingdom: Development Co-operation Review Main
Findings and Recommendations, 2001.
21 DAC/ OECD. United
Kingdom: Development Co-operation Review Main
Findings and Recommendations, 2001.
22 DAC/OECD. Development
Co-operation Report, 2000.
23 DAC/OECD. Development
Co-operation Report, 2000.
24 Secretary of State for
International Development. Eliminating World
Poverty: Making Globalization Work for the Poor.
White Paper on International Development,
p.36.
25 Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Human Rights
Annual Report 2001, p.120.
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