In February, ten civil society organisations including RTE presented a joint submission to the CESCR, in light of its upcoming review of the United Kingdom’s compliance with its human rights obligations as regards economic, social and cultural rights.
The brief was submitted to the CESCR’s pre-sessional working group, and focused on international development cooperation in education. In particular, the brief responded to the UK’s position that international development cooperation can support non-state providers, including low cost private schools. The submission draws on applicable international human rights frameworks in response to this position, among them the Abidjan Principles. It also notes the growing consensus that public development assistance should not support for-profit education. Finally, it raises concerns regarding the impact on the right to education of the UK's corporate tax policies.
This submission forms part of RTE’s wider work in both collective advocacy and awareness raising regarding the impact of for-profit and commercial schooling on the realisation of the right to education.
Full list of submitting organisations:
ActionAid
Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Education (Liberia)
East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights, Kenya)
Eurodad
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Global Justice Now
Initiative for Economic and Social Rights (ISER, Uganda)
RESULTS UK
Right to Education Initiative
World Organization for Early Childhood Education-OMEP
Read the full submission here