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UK’s development finance ‘harming society and the environment’: civil society organisations respond to critical report by UK Parliamentary International Development Committee

This joint statement signed by RTE and 18 CSOs responds to a report published in September 2023 by the International Development Committee (IDC) of the UK House of Commons, entitled ‘Investment for development - The UK’s Strategy towards Development Finance Initiatives. The report’ raises major concerns about the UK’s investments as part of development aid which the signatory organisations working on education share and reiterate.

Technology and education in light of human rights

In her 2022 Report on the impact of the digitalisation of education on the right to education, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education clarified that any introduction of digital technologies in education must be framed around the right of every person to public, free, quality education and the commitments of states in this regard both under international human rights law and Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Brief to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - UK

Front cover of submission showing title and logos of submitting organisations

This brief was submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prior to the 7th Review of the United Kingdom, responding to the pre-sessional Working Group submission. It was submitted in January 2023 and focuses on UK international development cooperation in the area of education.

Thrive, not survive: a review of economic, social and cultural rights in the UK. A report for Just Fair.

This brief will primarily be used by Just Fair and other NGOs across the UK to inform their approach to the seventh periodic review of the UK by the CESCR. The first part analyses the concerns repeatedly raised in the UK’s six Concluding Observations from 1980 to 2016 on its implementation of ICESCR’s substantive rights.

Should Schools Reopen? The Human Rights Risk - An Advisory Note for the Independent SAGE

A human rights analysis of schools reopening in England on 1 June 2020 after their closure due to the Covid-19. An Advisory Note to Independent SAGE.

CRC, CESCR and CEDAW statements on private education September 2014 – November 2017

This paper highlights key concluding observations adopted between September 2014 and November 2017 by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) regarding the role of private actors in education in Ghana, Chile, Morocco, Uganda, Kenya, Philippines and Brazil.

RTE's submission to the UPR: The UK’s support to private education in developing countries, particularly for-profit, low-cost private schools, and its impact on the right to education

This report was submitted by the Right to Education Initiative and nine organisations - including British organisations, organisations based in developing countries and international organisations on the occasion of the 3rd Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK).

Summary of Alternative Report to the CRC: The UK’s Support of the Growth of Private Education Through its Development Aid: Questioning its Responsibilities as Regards its Human Rights Extraterritorial Obligations

This is a summary of the report submitted in October 2015 to the Committee on the Rights of the Child by 26 organisations across the world including British organisations, organisations based in developing countries, and international organisations.

Access the original report, here and the update, here.

Alternative Report to the CRC: The UK’s Support of the Growth of Private Education Through its Development Aid: Questioning its Responsibilities as Regards its Human Rights Extraterritorial Obligations (Update)

This is a brief update of the report submitted in October 2015 to the Committee on the Rights of the Child by 26 organisations across the world including British organisations, organisations based in developing countries, and international organisations.

Access the original report, here and the summary, here.

Summary of Alternative Report to the CESCR: The UK’s Support of the Growth of Private Education Through its Development Aid: Questioning its Responsibilities as Regards its Human Rights Extraterritorial Obligations

This is a summary of the report submitted in October 2015 to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by 26 organisations across the world including British organisations, organisations based in developing countries, and international organisations.