En este informe, que se presenta a la Asamblea General de conformidad con lo dispuesto en las resoluciones 8/4 y 44/3 del Consejo de Derechos Humanos, la Relatora Especial sobre el derecho a la educación, Koumbou Boly Barry, examina la atención y la educación de la primera infancia desde una perspectiva basada en los derechos humanos, lo que refleja las necesidades multisectoriales de los niños y de quienes los cuidan.

La atención y la educación de la primera infancia combinan las necesidades de educación y de atención de los menores de 8 años, concepto que demuestra que el derecho a la educación es indivisible de los derechos a la salud, la vivienda, la alimentación, el agua y el saneamiento, así como de los derechos culturales, entre otros. Si bien se reconoce ampliamente la importancia de la atención y la educación de la primera infancia en los ámbitos humanitarios y de desarrollo, estas no están codificadas en el derecho de los derechos humanos. La Relatora Especial examina la atención y la educación de la primera infancia desde una perspectiva basada en los derechos humanos y recomienda que se redacte un instrumento de derechos humanos al respecto.

 

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Le présent rapport est soumis à l’Assemblée générale en application des résolutions 8/4 et 44/3 du Conseil des droits de l’homme. Dans le présent rapport, la Rapporteuse spéciale sur le droit à l’éducation, Koumbou Boly Barry, s’intéresse à l’éducation et à la protection de la petite enfance (EPPE) sous l’angle des droits humains, en considérant les besoins multisectoriels des enfants et de celles et ceux qui s’occupent d’eux.

L’éducation et la protection de la petite enfance est une notion qui combine l’apprentissage et les soins dont les enfants ont besoin de la naissance à l’âge de 8 ans, et qui témoigne du fait que le droit à l’éducation est indissociable des droits à la santé, au logement, à l’alimentation, à l’eau et à l’assainissement, ainsi que des droits culturels, et d’autres encore. Si l’importance de l’éducation et de la protection de la petite enfance a été largement reconnue dans les cercles humanitaires et dans le domaine du développement, c’est une notion qui n’a pas été suffisamment codifiée dans le droit des droits humains. La Rapporteuse spéciale se penche sur les aspects de l’éducation et de la protection de la petite enfance qui relèvent des droits humains et recommande que leur soit consacré un instrument des droits humains à part entière.

 

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En esta primera edición de nuestra serie de videos 'En conversación con...' (In conversation with), hablamos con la Presidenta Mundial de la Organización Mundial para la Educación Preescolar (OMEP), Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, sobre la importancia de la primera infancia como etapa y el financiamiento de los derechos humanos, así como la historia de la OMEP y la nueva iniciativa de la organización - la década de la primera infancia.
 
 

The final report of outgoing UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms Koumbou Boly Barry, addressing the right to early childhood care and education (ECCE), highlights the wide ranging ‘developmental, educational, social, cultural and economic benefits’ of ECCE to children, their families and wider society, and urges states to recognise and enshrine ECCE rights from birth until primary school, significantly calling for a more specific legal instrument to be established to complement the protections already established in international human rights instruments.

This report reflects a milestone in the realisation of young children’s right to education, and thus paves the way for long-term change and improvement to education systems, entrenched inequalities, and cohesive social development.

We wish to offer our sincere thanks to the outgoing Special Rapporteur Koumbou Boly Barry and acknowledge her for giving precedence to the right to education of young children in her report, and also for the overall contribution towards the realisation of the right to education during her mandate.

This statement synthesises some of the key information contained in the outgoing Special Rapporteur's report, and acknowledges her contribution across the two terms of her mandate. 

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There is undisputed recognition of the critical importance of the first years of a child’s life for development and that ensuring access to quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) provides tremendous benefits throughout life. Yet, despite progress made in recent years, the most disadvantaged continue to face considerable challenges in accessing quality and inclusive early childhood programmes and services with great disparities within and across countries.
 
The expanding digital environment and the wide-ranging modes of ECCE settings, further underline the need for greater state guidance.Perhaps more so than any other age group, children, from birth to the age of eight, require legal and policy measures that ensure a holistic, integrated and multisectoral approach, as not only are they highly dependent on their parents and caregivers, but their education, health, care and development are all firmly interconnected, making the realization of ECCE rights particularly complex.
 
Besides, as the right to education begins at birth and continues throughout life, adopting a lifelong learning approach has now become a fundamental right from the early years, including through ensuring equitable access to quality, free and compulsory pre-primary education.By adopting a rights-based approach, this thematic report aims to unravel the existing rights and obligations that states should comply with while evaluating how, in light of today's challenges, the right to ECCE can be further protected in the international human rights framework and national education systems. ECCE is a human right yet significant inequalities persist in terms of access to quality services with those who would benefit most often excluded.
 
This Thematic Report was published in the context of the World Conference on Early Childhood Education and Care 2022 and is the result of a fruitful collaboration between UNESCO, the Right to Education Initiative (RTE), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP), the Oxford Human Rights Hub (Oxford University), the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education (OHCHR), and the Latin American Campaign for the Right to education (CLADE).

 

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La Declaración de Tashkent se adoptó el 16 de noviembre durante la Conferencia Mundial de la UNESCO sobre Atención y Educación de la Primera Infancia.

 

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La déclaration de Tachkent a été adoptée le 16 novembre lors de la conférence mondiale de l'UNESCO sur l'éducation et la protection de la petite enfance.

 

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RTE se félicite de l'appel lancé par la Déclaration de Tachkent en faveur d'un cadre juridique renforcé et d'une augmentation des dépenses publiques pour l'EPPE. Cette déclaration a été rédigée par RTE suite à l'adoption de la " Déclaration de Tachkent et des engagements d'action pour la transformation de l'éducation et de la protection de la petite enfance " lors de la Conférence mondiale de l'UNESCO sur l'éducation et la protection de la petite enfance. 
 
Cette déclaration résume les aspects les plus significatifs de la Déclaration de Tachkent et nos perspectives sur l'importance de ce document pour la protection des droits des jeunes enfants en matière d'EPPE.
 
 
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'RTE welcomes the Tashkent Declaration’s call for an enhanced legal framework and increased public expenditure for ECCE' was written by RTE following the adoption of the ‘Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education at the UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education. 

This statement summarises the most significant aspects of the Tashkent Declaration and our perspectives on the importance of this document for the protection of young children's ECCE rights.

 

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While South Africa has seen important advances in the provision of early childhood care and education (ECCE), about 3.2 million children still lack access to any programme. Problems of access and quality are most pronounced in the poorest communities. Even before Covid-19 forced many providers to close, these programmes were overcrowded, with poor infrastructure, and an under-paid and under-qualified workforce. ECCE is crucial for a child’s development, meaning that these inequalities are amplified in school and later life. This has knock-on effects for caregivers, particularly women, and their ability to access quality work. This article argues that the right to equality can be mobilised both in relation to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and international law to address these disparities. By using a framework of substantive equality, we conclude that poverty, gender and race are potential grounds for discrimination both directly and indirectly. We further propose that resource-based justifications for limiting this right are unacceptable when budgets permit unequal resource distribution and contravene a government’s positive duty to fulfil the right to equality.

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