5 March 2020
13 organisations, including the Right to Education Initiative, alert on the ‘violation of France's obligations vis-à-vis the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights through its investment in Bridge International Academies (BIA)’ in a submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).‘Faced with evidence demonstrating the negative impact of BIA... Read more
13 February 2020
(Paris, 13 February 2019) As today marks the first anniversary of the adoption of the Abidjan Principles on the right to education organisations around the world are celebrating the significant renewed momentum for the right to education that developed in just a year. Rapid recognition of the Abidjan PrinciplesInternational and regional human rights institutions, including the United Nations... Read more
10 February 2020
The Abidjan Principles have received recognition in the latest report on private debt and human rights by the Independent Expert on the effect of foreign debt, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky.In the report Bohoslavsky explores the link between private debt (which includes individual and household debt) and human rights, and explains that:‘Debt is not per se a human rights problem, even less a violation.... Read more
29 January 2020
This week the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recognised the Abidjan Principles on the right to education as a ‘valuable specialised source of interpretation’ of State obligations with regard to the right to education within the framework of the Inter-American system.In a new report, ‘... Read more
14 November 2019
(Paris, 14 November 2019) The Paris Peace Forum announced yesterday that the Abidjan Principles on the right to education were selected as one of the ten ‘most promising governance projects’ that will be awarded support to scale-up. The Abidjan Principles were selected among 716 projects from 115 countries that applied in the call for projects.This prestigious selection by the Paris Peace Forum’s... Read more
30 October 2019
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms. Koumbou Boly Barry, will make an official visit to Qatar, between 8 and 16 December 2019. The visit will collect information and hold a series of dialogues with Government authorities, civil society mechanisms and other relevant stakeholders in order to analyze and assess realization of the right to education. The Special... Read more
29 October 2019
UN human rights experts have expressed their grave concerns about bullying, harassment and exclusion of LGBT people at schools, universities and other educational institutions, and called on States to prohibit and prevent such actions and to punish offenders."It is deeply disturbing that young people are being subjected to vicious online attacks and hate crimes - often by peers from their own... Read more
29 October 2019
Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) successfully petitioned the High Court seeking declarations to the effect that the government policy on public financing of secondary education in Uganda infringes on the rights to; equality and non-discrimination; and quality education as guaranteed under Articles 21; and 30 and 34(2) of the Constitution respectively.The court directed that the... Read more
16 October 2019
Today, the Right to Education Initiative, together with 173 civil society organizations, national education coalitions and unions, based in 63 different countries signed an open letter to the World Bank in support of development aid going to free, quality public education!Open letter to the World Bank and its donorsWe, the undersigned, urge you to ensure that development aid for education is used... Read more
1 October 2019
In her new report to the UN General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Dr Boly Barry, considers ways in which the right to education contributes to the prevention of atrocity crimes and mass or grave human rights violations.Stressing that education has a key role to play at all stages of prevention, the Special Rapporteur underlines the particularly forceful preventive... Read more