Co-operation between UNESCO’s Committee on Conventions and Recommendations (CR) and The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on the objectives for monitoring and promoting the Right to Education. 

The adoption of the OP-ICESCR is only a beginning and that the real challenges lay ahead. 

This Commentary is intended to benefit claimants and their advocates and to provide a broader resource for states and the Committee – providing a deeper jurisprudential base on the range of issues likely to be raised. In so doing, the Commentary charts in effect both the legal opportunities but also the limitations.

Children with disabilities experience ongoing segregation in special education classes or are otherwise excluded from education. This is in spite of the fact that states have a legal obligation to offer an accessible and inclusive education to all learners. Exclusion of any child from education is a violation of international law and a breach of human rights. The provision of inclusive education is an obligation under international law, as well as the means by which to fulfil the additional legal obligation to make education accessible to children with disabilities. Inclusive education is not only an educational system, but an approach and an attitude which addresses the learning needs of all learners and allows for the greatest possible educational opportunities. Inclusive education prevents exclusion and promotes the participation of all children in the educational setting and beyond.  

This report provides an interpretation and legal analysis of the right to education, and specifically inclusive education, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The rules of interpretation codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties are explained and used in this interpretation process. The report discusses the obligations of State Parties, policy makers, and educational professionals to make inclusive education for all learners a reality. The obligations from the Conventions are clarified through an interpretation of the treaty texts and an examination of the works of the treaty body committees. The report also makes recommendations and conclusions relating to the right to inclusive education found in these legally binding instruments.

On 7 July 2014, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) held a General Discussion on the Right to Education for Girls and Women, the aim of which is to commence the Committee’s process of elaborating a “General Recommendation on girls’/women’s right to education.”

Thirteen organizations from around the world, included the Right to Education Initiative, presented a written submission to CEDAW on ‘Privatization and its Impact on the Right to Education of Women and Girls,’ highlighting evidence from a range of countries showing that more boys are enrolled in schools than girls, a problem that is exacerbated by the increasing privatization of education.  Privatization in many cases deepens gender discrimination in education because already marginalized and vulnerable groups, including women and girls, are more disadvantaged by private provision and are the least able to pay for services.