UN Conventions – Barbados

The major UN conventions (listed below) each have provisions relevant to education, non-discrimination or access to justice, and they can all be signed up to by states, thereby obliging these to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. It matters whether states have ratified or acceded (almost the same) to a particular convention, signed it, or merely indicated their intention to do so, as they will accordingly be legally bound by that treaty to differing degrees. Furthermore, it is very important to note whether or not states have lodged any reservations or declarations, which might prevent the convention in question entering into full effect at the national level. Lastly, some conventions, either in their core text or in optional protocols, specify routes of individual complaints to the different committees of independent experts, and it must be noted whether these exist before contemplating legal action at this level.

The United Nations system, begun in 1945 with the UN Charter, depends on the participation by states, as signatories to treaties, as authors of reports on the progress and rate of implementation of rights, and as parties to face-to-face meetings and recommendations. The UN works both as a peer system (via the Universal Periodic Review), where states judge and place pressure on each other - or avoid doing so for political reasons – as well as a system of independent experts (via the committees of the various conventions), who examine, interpret and commend or criticise the efforts of countries to fulfil their obligations against the background of the normative texts and the internationally binding law.

The international legal system has the state at its centre: the state ratifies treaties and thereby obliges itself to respect, protect and fulfil certain human rights. The one which is of central importance to these pages is the right to education. And it is the state that must report on its own implementation and who can be “named and shamed” in public for not doing so. Treaties specify mechanisms for how the international community can hold the state to account, frequently through exerting pressure from above, and therefore such mechanisms can be very powerful. However they can also become overtly politicised at the UN or regional fora. It is the challenge of campaigners and the courts to place this power in the hands of those whose rights have been violated by the state.

For the text of these conventions as well as their optional protocols (Op.), please use the following links, paying particular attention to the suggested education- and non-discrimination-related articles:

ICESCR Art. 13, 14  ICESCR Op.  ICCPR Art. 18, 24, 27 ICCPR Op.  CERD Art. 5, 7  CEDAW Art. 10, 14  CEDAW Op.  CRC Art. 28, 29, 30  CRC Op 1  CRC Op. 2  CMV Art. 30, 45  CRPD Art. 24  CRPD Op.