On 30 September 2024, our Director, Delphine Dorsi, spoke at an event on protecting the right to early childhood care and education (ECCE) during crisis organised by UNESCO with the support of the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies, UNICEF, Education Cannot Wait and the permanent mission of Colombia to the UN in Geneva.
The event was held on the side of the Human Rights Council and as a follow of the dialogue on the right to education organised in June 2024 by the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, the University of Geneva and the UNESCO Liaison Office in Geneva.
Our Director briefly shared the Right to Education Initiative (RTE)’s perspective based on our work on ECCE as well as on education in conflict contexts, both based on human rights.
She flagged our specific work on monitoring the right to education, including our guide on Monitoring Education Under Attack from a Human Rights Perspective, which applied to ECCE and a coming guide on monitoring ECCE from a human rights perspective. The latest has a set of ECCE-specific indicators for monitoring ECCE in emergencies covering aspects related to the preparedness of the State as well as responses, and recovery. They have mainly been developed for civil society organisations but can be also used by states to support their monitoring work. She stressed that RTE does hope to encourage the monitoring of these specific dimensions of the right to education which are much needed for the development of relevant laws and policies, while recognising the particular challenges in context crisis.
Recalling the huge involvement of private actors in ECCE, she shared the recent call made by the Francophone Research Network on the Privatisation of Education (ReFPE) raising awareness about the lack of quality data for an in-depth understanding of education privatisation, and urging governments, with the support of international bodies, to provide access to reliable data on this issue.
Responding to the requisition regarding global level initiative, she mentioned our collaborative work with a wide range of actors, including UNESCO, to strengthen the international legal framework on ECCE in order to strengthen the implementation at national level. As part of these efforts, she informed about the development of Guiding Principles on ECCE, which includes a section on ‘ECCE in and after emergencies and protracted Crises’.
In the introduction of the event, Denmark, Colombia, South Sudan, Luxembourg and the Maldives shared the challenges and some of the best practices implemented at the national level. Among other points, the need to adapt the responses to national contexts, included through communities based initiatives, as well as the issue of data collection in such contexts were highlighted. Several mentioned the importance of addressing other dimensions - beyond education - such as mental health.
Several key actors shared perspectives from their own work: UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO, Education cannot Wait (ECW) and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion.
UNESCO referred to their evolving dimension of the right to education, indicating that a particular attention is given to ECCE in this process. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion recalled that children’s legal status and lack of administrative documents cannot be a barrier to access ECCE. UNICEF highlighted their "Five Million Futures" initiative - which aimed at reaching 5 million children and their families with equitable access to quality, inclusive early childhood care and education (ECCE), particularly in crisis-affected areas. Through three core pillars. WHO stressed that care and education start at home and mentioned the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development. UNHRC called on all stakeholders to join them in scaling up resources and support for ECD in crisis settings, while ECW stressed the importance of intentionality in ECCE funding.
During the Q&A, the Dominican Republic emphasised that without education, conflicts always repeat, affirming that ‘education will make us free from conflicts’.
Petra Heusser, Executive Director, Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies, concluded with a human rights perspective, indicating that human rights mechanisms are pivotal for realisation of the right to education and informing about the publication of several factsheets to better use them.