Fiche d'information et synthèse

Education is held up as the key strategy to empower girls and break the cycles of poverty, to propel social and economic development in poor countries, and to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Many girls from poor families have little or no access to even a primary education, because the costs are beyond their families' means. In this information sheet Amnesty International calls o governments to eliminate direct and indirect fees for primary schools and take steps to make secondary schools accessible to all.

Certain girls face an increased risk of violence at school because of who they are. Lesbian girls, for example, experience both sexism and homophobia combined. Girls with disabilities face both sexism and disability discrimination. In this information sheet Amnesty International calls on governments and schools to train school staff in early intervention strategies and to develop and implement a code of conduct for all students that explicitly prohibits sexual violence and sexual harassment in the educational context

Education is a vital element in efforts to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. Sexual assault against girls in and around schools carries the danger of HIV infection. The threat of violence reduces the ability of girls to protect themselves from infection. In this information sheet in Amnesty International calls on governments and schools to take steps such as the prohibition of all forms of violence against girls; provision of appropriate treatment and HIV/AIDS information; and implementation of policies to include girls living with HIV, for example, in schools.

This advocacy factsheet is based on Right to Education Initiative report At What Age…are school-children employed, married and taken to court? Trends over time (2011), which provides analysis of legal minimum age for education, marriage, employment and criminal responsibility across 187 countries and raises questions regarding the cross-section of these issues and their effect on the right to education.

This case study was produced for the UN Durban Review Conference organised in Geneva in 2009. It briefly presents the violation of pregnant adolescent girls’ right to education in Tanzania and makes recommendations.

When governments met at the United Nationsin January 2014 to debate aspects of the sustainable development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, over 300 civil society organizations from all parts of the world - including the Right to Educatin Project - have come together to demand human rights be integrated into every aspect of the new framework.