CEDAW Committee to Consider General Recommendation on Girls’/Women’s Education
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 22, 2005
WUNRN
CEDAW COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER A
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION ON GIRLS’/WOMEN’S RIGHT TO EDUCATION
On
the occasion of its 58th session, to be held in Geneva from 30 June to 18 July
2014, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will
hold a half-day general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
(article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women).
The aim of the half-day general discussion is to commence the Committee’s
process of elaborating a “General Recommendation on girls’/women’s right
to education”. The purpose of the general recommendation is to provide
appropriate and authoritative guidance to States parties to the Convention on
the measures to be adopted with a view to ensuring full compliance with their
obligations under article 10 of the Convention to respect, protect and fulfil
the right of women and girls to education.
………………………………………………………………………………………
CEDAW Convention – Article 10 – See Full Text of Article at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx
Article 10
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men
in the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of equality
of men and women: (a) The same conditions for career and vocational guidance,
for access to studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational
establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas; this
equality shall be ensured in pre-school, general, technical, professional and
higher technical education, as well as in all types of vocational
training;……
__________________________________________________
Concept
Note on the Draft General Recommendation on Girls’/Women’s Right to Education
1. Introduction
Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women calls upon States Parties to “eliminate
discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men
in the field of education.” The purpose of this General Recommendation is to
interpret the definition, scope and expectations regarding the right to
education, as outlined in Article 10.
This concept note has been prepared in anticipation of the Committee’s
global consultation on the proposed General Recommendation scheduled for July
2014, during its 58th session to be held in Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose of
the note is to commence the discussion by providing preliminary information to
interested parties and will offer an overview of both the legal context and the
thematic areas, which will inform the Committee’s elaboration of the proposed
General Recommendation.
2. Basis for a General Recommendation on
Girls’/Women’s Right to Education
2.1 Five
Main Principles on the Right to Education in Article 10 of CEDAW
Article 10, in providing the right to education for women and girls, is
based on five core principles:
a). Elimination of all forms of discrimination to ensure that women
and girls receive equal opportunity with men and boys to the same quality and
type of education and have the same potential to benefit from such education;
b) Education is not limited to primary and secondary education.
An expansive framework is adopted to include all levels of education from
pre-school through to the tertiary level in academic and technical-vocational
fields as well as sports and physical education and continuing education;
c). Education must be available, accessible, acceptable, and
adaptable to women and girls in urban as well as in rural areas and to all
disadvantaged groups;
d). Primary measures, including the elimination of stereotypical
concepts of the roles of men and women in society, must be supported with a
number of related, complementary measures that are designed to enhance the
right of women and girls to education and to make free choices in fields of
study and careers to be pursued;
e) Promoting the right of women and girls to education
facilitates enjoyment of rights in their personal and family life as well as in
their political and public life.[1][1]
3. The Normative Framework
3.1 Four
Basic Objectives of Education in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
From inception, the United Nations recognized the right to education in Article
26 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, emphasizing that education, at
least in the primary and secondary stages, must be free, compulsory, equal,
available and accessible for all.
The Article outlines four basic objectives of education, namely:
a) “Developing the human personality”;
b) “Strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms”;
c) Promoting “understanding, tolerance and friendship among all
nations, racial or religious groups”;
d) “Maintaining the peace”.
3.2 The
Right to Education in International Legal Instruments
This explicit right to education is also recognized in many
international legal instruments, including but not limited to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 13), the
International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial
Discrimination (Article 5), the International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Article 30),
the International Charter of Physical Education and Sport (Article 1), the
Convention on Technical and Vocational Education, the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities (Article 24), the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (Article 28), the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to
National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities (Article 4) and the
Declaration against Discrimination in Education.
3.3 The
Right to Education in Regional Legal Instruments
The right to education is also acknowledged in regional legal
instruments. The Arab Charter on Human Rights (Article 41), the Charter of the
Organization of American States (Article 49), the American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man (article 12), the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights (Article 17), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child (Article 11), the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies,
Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and other Academic Qualifications in Higher
Education in the African States, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Article 12), the first
Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (Article 2) and the European Convention on the Legal
Status of Migrant Workers (Article 14) all guarantee the right to education.
3.4 The
Right to Education in Non-Binding Frameworks
3.4.1 The 1999 World Declaration on Education
for All
The World Declaration on Education for All was adopted at the World
Conference on Education for All in Lomtien, Thailand (1990), united delegates
from 155 countries and various representatives from governmental and
non-governmental organizations to affirm the notion of education as a
fundamental human right. Since then, the Beijing Platform for Action (1995),
the Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning (1996) and the Dakar Framework for
Action (2000) have recurrently called upon states to take strategic action in
confronting “inequalities and inadequacies in women and girls’ unequal
access to education and training.” The proposed general recommendation
will address ongoing lapses in the provision of available, accessible,
acceptable, and adaptable educational opportunities for women and girls
worldwide.
3.4.2 The Beijing Platform of Action
The Beijing Platform for Action clearly asserts that education is a
human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality,
development and peace and is necessary if women are to be agents of change. It
further asserts that literacy is a n important key to improving health,
nutrition and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in
decision-making. Actions required by Governments are: ensuring equal access to
education; eradicating illiteracy among women; improving women’s access to
vocational training, science and technology and continuing education;
developing non-discriminatory education and training; allocating sufficient
resources for and monitor implementation of educational reforms; and, promote
life-long education and training for women and girls.
3.4.3 The 1994 International Conference on
Population and Development
At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) in Cairo, 179 governments agreed that empowering women by meeting women
and girls’ needs for education, including education on sexual and reproductive
health and rights, is pivotal in advancing the status and development of women.
The ICPD Programme of Action, Principle 10 expressed that: “Everyone has the
right to education, which shall be directed to the full development of human
resources, and human dignity and potential, with particular attention to women
and the girl child. Education should be designed to strengthen respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms, including those relating to population
and development.”
3.4.4 The Right to Education in the Millennium
Development Goals
Recent decades, however, have seen impressive strides in mitigating gender
disparity in education. Millennium Development Goal 2, which targets to ensure
that by 2015, boys and girls around the globe will be able to complete primary
school, reached 90% success as of 2010. Enhancing primary school outcomes
directly correlates to an increase in demand for secondary education. Although
the gap between male and female literacy rates has reduced significantly, with
data for 2010 showing 95 literate girls for every 100 literate boys in, women
in certain regions and disadvantaged women, in particular, continue to face
major obstacles in realizing their right to education. Getting women and girls
in school and learning is central to advancing Millennium Development Goal 3,
the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education in all
levels of education by 2015.
3.4.5 The Right to Education in the Post-2015
Agenda
Education is at the basis of development and offers the possibility for
people everywhere not only to acquire knowledge and skills, but also to create
new opportunities in order to improve their lives. Whether in pursuit of
creating new technologies, improved agriculture, preventing HIV/AIDs, the
establishment of small businesses, improved governance, the protection of the
environment, the expression of local culture or rehabilitation after conflict –
education and learning are an essential condition of progress. Education
enables individuals and communities to take greater control of the
circumstances of their lives and to shape, rather than merely endure, the
change that affects them. Given the fundamental role that education plays in
achieving much broader development goals, there must be both an
education-specific development agenda beyond 2015 and explicit education goals
in all development agendas. In short, education should be given prominence in
the development of the post 2015 agenda.[2][2]
3.5 The
Right to Education in the Various General Recommendations of the CEDAW
Committee
This General Recommendation builds upon previous General Recommendations
issued by the Committee which emphasize the role of education: in eliminating
“prejudices and current practices that hinder the full operation of the
principle of the social equality of women” (GR No. 3, 1987); changing
“attitudes concerning the roles and status of men and women” (GR No. 19, 1992);
including “sexual and reproductive health education” (GR No. 24, 1999);
enhancing access of disabled women (GR No. 18, 1991), women who “bear and raise
children” (GR No. 21, 1994) and older women (GR No. 27, 2010); advancing
“women’s integration into education” (GR No. 5, 1988); designing educational
programs on the essence of the Convention itself (GR No. 28, 2010) including,
as stated in the Convention, temporary measures in the field of education (GR
No. 25, 2004); and developing programs to reintegrate to school girls from
conflict-affected areas, promptly repair of school infrastructure and
prevention of attacks and threats against girls and their teachers (GR No. 30,
2013).
Given this framework and articulating upon principles outlined in
previously adopted General Recommendations, a General Recommendation on the
right to education will clarify the application of The Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (henceforth referred
to as CEDAW) to situations in which the right to education is not being fully
realized.
3.6 The
Status of the State Responses to Article 10 of the Convention
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women is the critical legislative guide on women’s human rights and serves as
binding international law for the 187 States that have ratified it, to date.
Despite the high number of States parties to the treaty, more than 35 million
girls in developing countries do not attend school, with two-thirds of these
young women representing ethnic minorities. Many are excluded because of
inadequate capacity of the system, economic disadvantage, location, pregnancy,
child marriage, disability, voluntary migration or their status as refugees
brought on by situations of conflict, and so on. In schools, they may become
subject to violence or harassment. Any response to these challenges must engage
all stakeholders in the educational process – both state and non-state actors,
including personnel in educational institutions, whether public or private,
parents and community members.
3.7 Issues
Raised in Concluding Observations of the CEDAW Committee on the Right to
Education
The proposed General Recommendation is designed to take into consideration
key concerns expressed by the CEDAW Committee in response to States parties’
reports especially regarding the exclusion of disadvantaged groups to
education, including: lack of an adequate infrastructure to meet the needs of
the relevant age cohorts particularly in rural and remote areas; barriers to
women’s and girls’ access to education; high rates of female student dropouts;
low levels of girls’ and women’s attendance in rural areas; non-attendance by
girls who are pregnant or have children; inadequate participation of parents,
teachers, and counselors in promoting girls education; gender stereotypes in
school curricula, textbooks and teaching materials; persistence of
sex-segregation of the curriculum particularly in vocational areas; lack of
trained teachers; violence against women and girls in schools; lack of a focus
on age appropriate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights at
all levels of education; low enrollment of girls in secondary and tertiary
education; high illiteracy rates among women; barriers that prevent women from
adult education and literacy classes; restrictions on women entering different
academic and vocational fields; migrant girls and girls with disabilities; and,
a lack of integration of human rights education and the promotion of gender
equality in curricula used at all levels of education. The proposed
Recommendation will serve to demonstrate the intrinsic correlation between
advancing the right to education and facilitating the other rights within the
CEDAW.
4. Links between Article 10 on the Right
to Education and other Articles and General Recommendations of the CEDAW
4.1 Article 2
& GR 28: This article calls
on States parties to condemn discrimination in all its forms and to pursue, by
all appropriate means, a policy of eliminating such discrimination by, inter alia, taking measures to eliminate
discrimination by any person, organization or enterprise. Historically, the
formal education system, through its processes and practices, has been a major
instrument of the State through which patriarchal attitudes and social and
cultural patterns with respect to the roles of women and men in society have
been reproduced. Eliminating such processes and practices therefore become
critical to the dismantling of patriarchal attitudes and norms through which
discrimination against women is perpetuated.
4.2 Article 4 &
GR 25: To reach gender equality, it
is appropriate for States parties to adopt temporary or special measures to
advance the status of women. In General Recommendation No. 25 (2004), the
Committee explained that “temporary special measures may also be based on
decrees, policy directives and/or administrative guidelines formulated and
adopted by national, regional or local executive branches of government to cover
the public employment and education sectors.”
4.3 Article 5 &
GR 19: The persistence of gender
stereotypes of varying degrees throughout all States parties underscores the
necessity to eliminate sex and gender based stereotypes from all educational
processes, practices and teaching materials. Education has been demonstrated to
be a palpable tool in combating traditional notions of gender that perpetuate
patriarchal and paternalistic social and economic frameworks. In addition,
literacy promotes changes in attitudes and norms against intimate partner
violence.”
4.4 Article 6: Where the right of women and girls to education is
fully implemented and advanced, then women are empowered and equipped to claim
rights through that education including access to labor markets and increased
economic opportunities. Educated women are less likely to enter illegal sectors
of the market economy and engage in risky life-styles such as exploitation of
prostitution, if formal avenues are available to them as the result of an
education.
4.5 Article 7 &
GR 23: It is clear that education
carries a broad range of effects on public and political participation,
particularly at decision-making levels. Direct effects include the acquisition
of knowledge and critical thinking and analytical skills that facilitate
engagement in meaningful pubic debates. Indirect effects may be seen in
participation in school clubs, student government, sports teams and other
extra-curricular activities, which provide women and girls the opportunity to
develop leadership qualities and develop a sense of civic responsibility.
4.6 Article 8: In order for women to fill international positions
they should be well-educated, as these positions involve representing
governments on official delegations, bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, and
participation in expert meetings where global goals and priorities are
established. Currently, few women occupy these highly sought after positions
where they are needed to bring their perspectives to international platforms,
and translate these experiences into improving women’s situations at the
national and local levels. Without comprehensive education women are unlikely
to attain the qualifications required for international appointments,
notwithstanding that governments are enjoined to utilize special temporary
measures to ensure their equal representation with men.
4.7 Article 9: The protection of nationality is enshrined in Article
9 of CEDAW. Where women face discrimination in transmission of their
nationality to their children, such children could be denied the right to
education in the mother’s place of birth. Efforts must be made by State parties
to ensure that, if they exist, such barriers should be eliminated.
4.8 Article 11: Access to education at the primary, secondary and
tertiary levels not only improves the human capital of the State party, but
also increases women’s rights, through education, to employment thereby
increasing their representation in the formal labor market and reduces their
engagement in the unregulated informal sector. With “women now
representing 40 percent of the global labor force and more than half the
world’s university students, overall productivity will increase if their skills
and talents are used more fully” and those skills and talents can best be
cultivated through an accessible high-quality education (IMF 2012).
4.9 Article 12
& GR 24: The interrelated link
between health and education has been widely established around the world.
Education is absolutely central in promoting an actively healthy citizenry
capable of safeguarding their own health and recognizing warning signs or
symptoms that may indicate otherwise. The female literacy rate and the
enrollment ratio of women and girls in schools has been demonstrated to be a
moderately powerful predictor of maternal mortality and education allows women
the knowledge to recognize the need for and the ability to identify adequate
health services (J Obstet Gynaecol 2006). Article 10 also calls for specific
information to be provided to help ensure the wellbeing of women and their
families, including information on sexual and reproductive health and rights
and advice on family planning.
4.10 Article 13: Enhancing the right of women and girls to education
also equips them in understanding their economic and social rights, including
rights to financial family benefits and the same right as men to participate in
business and economic life by obtaining loans and applying for other forms of
financial benefits. Education should also equip women to have equal opportunity
to participate in recreational and cultural activities.
4.11 Article 14: To meet the needs of women in rural and remote areas,
a key indicator may be the number of schools built and staffed to adequate
standards. As the right to education applies to all women and girls, regardless
of the barriers to be overcome in facilitating such a right, educational
opportunities must be accessible to women and girls in the rural and most
remote communities of a State party.
4.12 Article 15: Enhancing women and girls’ right to education is a
cornerstone in facilitating women’s equal access to justice. Literacy and
quality education allow women to better understand and exercise their rights,
to access legal remedies, and to actively participate in civic and legal
processes. This may be complemented through improved legal literacy.
4.13 Article 16
& GR 29: Advancing both women and
girls’ access to education and the ways in which society addresses women in
education reconstructs traditional notions of gender roles and positions within
the home and contributes to a better understanding of the implications of early
marriage. Facilitating women and girls’ right to education should increase
women’s capacity to exercise control over household resources or advocate for
laws that enhance their ability to inherit and accumulate assets, particularly
by reforming the property rights system.
5. A Human Rights Approach: Rights to
Education, Rights Within Education, and Rights Through Education
5.1 CEDAW
Article 10: The Right of Women and Girls to Education
The proposed General
Recommendation will recalibrate the concept of the right to education to consider a broader notion that also includes the
rights within education and the
rights through education, with an
emphasis on personal and leadership skills and the development of competencies
to effectively participate in public life. The role of the Committee in holding
States parties accountable
for their obligations under Article 10 includes identifying State duties that
are applied uniformly to all States parties. Clear standards to which all
States parties are held are vital in advancing the right to education as a
universally held right.
5.2 Rights
To Education
5.2.1 Equality in Access
Article 10 calls upon
States parties to take the appropriate measures to enhance access to education
for women and girls. This especially refers to “access to studies,” “access to
specific educational information,” “to ensure the health and well-being of
families,” “access to programs of continuing education, including adult and
functional literacy programs,” “reduction of female drop-out rates,” the
“organization of programs for girls and women who have left school prematurely”
and ensuring “the same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other
study grants.”
5.2.2 State Commitment to Allocating Proper
Funds for Education
The relationship
between levels of national wealth and investment in education can reflect the
degree to which national governments are dedicated to their state education
systems – and the quality of the educational system. States parties’ efforts
may be indicated by the proportion of their national budgets that they devote
to learning at all levels. This ratio, considered in tandem with the amount of
total public spending, determines the level of spending on education. A key
indicator of equality of access is the extent to which the net enrolment rates
for both sexes are comparable and also indicate the extent to which there is
adequate capacity at various levels of the system for the relevant age cohort
in the population.
5.2.3 Legislation Governing Access to Education
Accessible education
lays at the foundation of the right to education. As such, States parties should take measures that
enable such access, by introducing legislation on the right to education, which
should be free and compulsory from pre-school up to the secondary system. Article
14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights binds
each State party which has been unsuccessful at securing free compulsory
education within its territory to, “work out and adopt a detailed plan of
action for the progressive implementation, within a reasonable number of years,
to be fixed in the plan, of the principle of compulsory education free of
charge for all.”
5.2.4 Reducing School Fees and indirect costs
to Make it Affordable
The right to education
implies that primary and secondary education is available, free and actionable.
Cost-sharing measures for education have proved to have a devastating effect on
primary school enrollment rates accompanied by high drop-out rates of girls due
to the parents or guardians inability to pay school expenses compounded by
their need for labor within the home and under these conditions preferences
often shown to the education of boys. Conversely, according to the World Bank
Gender and Development Report 2012, decreases in fees associated with school
mitigated the need for “families to differentiate educational investments
across children”. In some countries, free
primary education programs, for instance, have increased student enrollments in the first year. Other
programs for poverty reduction and alleviation, such as those centered on
microcredit or skills development programs should mandate integrating gender
empowerment into the programs, which provide education services. “When
customized solutions are hard to implement or too costly, demand-side
interventions, such as cash transfers conditioned on school attendance, can
help get girls from poor families to school.” Such conditional cash transfers
have succeeded in increasing girls’ enrollment rates in culturally diverse
countries (World Bank, 2011).
5.2.5 Addressing Female Dropouts
The full facilitation
of the right to education is particularly important for those women and girls
who may have had to drop out of school due to pregnancy, forced labor, or child
marriage. According to UNESCO, 40 percent of dropouts in South and West Asia
have previously been to school. Increasing gender equality and the ability to
gain employment are critically important in assessing the female drop-outs’
realization of her right to education. The African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child requires States parties to “take measures to
encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates and
to take special measures in respect of female, gifted and disadvantaged
children, to ensure equal access to education for all sections of the
community” To further protect the rights of female drop-outs, “States
Parties to the present Charter shall have all appropriate measures to ensure
that children who become pregnant before completing their education shall have
an opportunity to continue with their education on the basis of their
individual ability” (Article 11 ).
5.2.6 Facilitating Transportation to Academic
Institutions
Providing safe
transportation for girls in rural and remote areas is a necessary condition to
guarantee access of such girls. According to a World Bank Report, reducing
distances travelled and improving transportation services and infrastructure
along with expanding rural road networks have increased female school
attendance in some countries.
5.2.7 Right of access to education and
cultural, religious rights
Guaranteeing equal
rights within education also means that women and girls of national, religious
or ethnic minorities are not penalized for absences related to cultural or
religious holidays; the system should be able to accommodate these requests in
such a way that maintains the integrity of both school and student. Similarly,
the style and format of teaching must take into account the different cultural
and social structures that may exist throughout the State party. Often, a
uniform application of a school system is an ineffective strategy in
guaranteeing women and girls access to an acceptable education, as it may be
irrelevant for their particular experience. Education should be pluralistic and
culturally appropriate, with an emphasis on the language of instruction.
5.2.8 Offering Instruction in the Native
Language
Although right to
education does not imply the right of a parent to require the State to instruct
their child in a language of their choice, the European Court of Human Rights
held that the right to education afforded by Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
must encompass the right to be educated in a national language. The Court
stated that “by binding themselves, in the first sentence of Article 2 of
Protocol No. 1, not to deny the right to education”, contracting States
guarantee anyone within their jurisdiction a right of access to educational
institutions existing at a given time.[3][3]
5.2.9 Designing Alternative Learning Programs
Alternative learning
programs must also be included in States parties’ efforts as a viable option
within the right to education framework. Alternative learning programs include
both programs which provide an alternative means in accessing education and
learning programs which provide an alternative curriculum which may be more
meaningful given a certain status or condition being faced, offer an
opportunity to reach those women and girls who are not enrolled in the formal
education system. Although alternative programs are, by definition, outside of
the mainstream educational system, alternative options require the support of
legitimate education policies and legislation, such as employment legislation,
that recognize and support the gap being filled by such programs. According to
UNESCO, typically 70 percent of curricula in alternative learning programs
parallel that of their formal counterparts. Successfully implemented
alternative learning programs should allow for pupils, on completion, to take a
national examination on an equivalent basis with those in the national system.
5.3 Facilitating
Access to Education for Disadvantaged groups of Women and Girls
The rights within
education are particularly important when considering the quality of education
received by disadvantaged groups. Although education may be accessible, the
standards may not be equitable with that of men. Disadvantaged groups of women
and girls, particular those living in rural areas, migrants, women with
disabilities, ethnic minorities, refugees, women living with HIV/AIDS,
adolescent mothers, and drop- outs are often disadvantaged in accessing equitable
educational resources, despite the protections provided them in CEDAW and other
binding international legal instruments.
5.3.1 Rural Women
Rural women face a
particular challenge in accessing education or having public services reach
their often remote location. Although improved market signals and state
programs have had more success in closing the gender gap in urban areas, the
positive externalities of an improved economy which aid educated women and
girls are challenged to reach this disadvantaged group.
5.3.2 Migrant Women
When guided by
principles of non-discrimination and equality, curricula developed by the State
party have the power to
transform discriminatory societal attitudes and cultural values that may be
long entrenched in a national fabric. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary
forms of racism explains that “despite some positive initiatives, studies
and findings by international and national bodies show that persons of African
descent, Roma, Dalits, indigenous peoples, migrants, to name a few, still have
limited access to quality and higher education” and underscores “the
importance of education in combating racism, xenophobia, and intolerance.”
5.3.3 Women with disabilities
Persons with
disabilities often face significant challenges in accessing quality education.
The European Committee on Social Rights indicated an attitudinal shift amongst
the public regarding perceptions of persons with disabilities.[4][4] The move from identifying persons with disabilities as limited in
their ability to exercise the right to education, towards acknowledging
citizens with disabilities as equal citizens with an equal claim to the right
to education, represents an important expansion that can be made in the
proposed general recommendation.
5.3.4 Women belonging to Ethnic Minorities
Ethnic minorities
particularly, despite their citizenship, represent a chronically underserved
group in accessing education. Numerous international and regional conventions
attempt to mitigate challenges to educational rights faced by ethnic
minorities, refugees and migrant workers including the Declaration on the
Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic
Minorities. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
calls upon States to “take measures in the field of education, in order to
encourage knowledge of the history, traditions, language and culture of the
minorities existing within their territory.”
5.3.5 Women Refugees
A key component in the
education strategy targeting women and girls refugees is addressing the quality
lapse in education available to refugees. Recognized at the World Conference on
Education for All as an ‘underserved’ group, the right to education for
refugees is affirmed in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
(1951). However, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) underscores the
vital role education plays in cultivating leaders during displacement and for
the future rebuilding of communities following the conflict. The UNHCR
2012-2016 education strategy “aims to develop refugees’ skills and
knowledge to enable them to live healthy and productive lives, and to promote
self-reliance and sustainable peaceful coexistence.”
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