Geneva Dialogue on the Right to Education was held on 18 and 19 June 2024 and organized by the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO, the University of Geneva, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the REGARD network.

The rich sessions provided an opportunity to examine the trends, challenges, and opportunities related to equitable access to quality education. Discussions focused on the impact of privatization, digitalization, and crises on the right to education, as well as the effectiveness of human rights mechanisms in addressing these 21st-century challenges.

The results of these discussions are published in this synthesis report, highlighting the lessons learned and recommendations for strengthening the right to education.

In October 2024, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, presented her report on AI in education, emphasiaing a human rights-based approach to its regulation. She showed AI's potential to advance access to education, particularly for individuals with disabilities and remote communities, while cautioning against its risks, such as undermining human connection, increasing digital divides, and excluding minority groups. The report calls for legal and political frameworks, inclusive stakeholder participation, and training for educators and students to ensure the responsible use of AI. She stressed that AI must not replace teachers and warned against the commercialisation of education, urging states to integrate AI responsibly into educational systems. She emphasises the need for international collaboration, ethical guidelines, and addressing algorithmic biases to align AI with the goal of equitable, quality education for all.

 

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The  report examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem in the year since a fire ripped through a Quranic boarding school in Dakar housed in a makeshift shack, killing eight boys. After the fire, President Macky Sall pledged to take immediate action to close schools where boys live in unsafe conditions or are exploited by teachers, who force them to beg and inflict severe punishment when the boys fail to return a set quota of money. While important legislation has advanced, authorities have taken little concrete action to end this abuse. The report informs about the regulation of Quranic school and makes recommendations.

 
Key resource

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. Another report was submitted in 2024 with updates and recommendations.

This report was submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the 7th review of the UK. It is an update of a first report submitted in 2023. It covers:

  • The major concerns raised by the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament about the UK’s investments as part of Overseas Development Aid (ODA)

  • The UK’s non-response following findings from investigations by the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO)

  • The absence of UK’s responses to the CESCR’s questions related to UK international development cooperation in the area of education

  • Update on the UK’s investments in fee-charging private education

  • Key recommendations

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