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April 2020 update on the implementation of the Abidjan Principles on the right to education
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Dear *|FNAME|*,
In the few months since the one-year anniversary of the Abidjan Principles, there has been a significant change in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many events and initiatives have been canceled, many more are being reimagined and adapted to the new reality, to ensure ongoing efforts to ensure the right to education is respected.
In this context, the Abidjan Principles offer guidance that is more crucial than ever. Whereas some States are tempted to rely on quick-fix solutions from the private sector, they must be careful about systemic and long-term risks, while carefully managing data protection law and labour protection in the short term, which the Abidjan Principles unpack. And, more than ever, public education appears as an indispensable to build resilient and solidarity societies, and the Abidjan Principles offer important tools to organise State's obligation to provide quality, transparent, public education.
Below is an overview of a few key developments and events that have taken place since January 2020.
For more information, follow the developments on the Abidjan Principles website, and on Twitter via the hashtag #AbidjanPrinciples. |
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Updates
- The European Committee of Social Rights published a statement of the interpretation on private sector involvement in education, unpacking States' obligations to provide public education and regulate private, in accordance with the Abidjan Principles. It states, 'The Committee is also mindful in this respect of the Abidjan Guiding Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education' and recognises that 'the offer of educational alternatives by private actors must not be detrimental to the allocation of resources towards, or otherwise undermine the accessibility and quality of, public education' and that 'States are required to regulate and supervise private sector involvement in education strictly, making sure that the right to education is not undermined.'
- In January the Independent expert on the effect of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of states on the full enjoyment of human rights recognised the Abidjan Principles in a new report on private debt and human rights (A/HRC/43/45 para.26).
- The Mouvement L'école ensemble in Québec, Canada, successfully shared information with the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, using the Abidjan Principles to analyse data in the province. As a result, the Committee issued strong questions which the Government will have to respond to in writing, putting on the table the issue of the two-tier education system in Québec, and the need to organise a strong public system for all.
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) questioned France about concerns on the degradation of the health system & its support for and assessment of the funding granted to Bridge International Academies, reflecting concerns raised by civil society in a submission for the CESCR review of France in March 2020.
- Red de Nuevo Pacto Social (Chile) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights submitted a Joint Alternative Report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) ahead of the List of Issues Prior to Reporting. The joint submission provides a gender analysis on the current situation of economic, social and cultural rights in the country, including an assessment of the right to education using the Abidjan Principles.
- Ann Skelton, UNESCO Chair of Education Law in Africa University of Pretoria, South Africa published an article, 'Public education is not for sale to the highest (or lowest) bidder' which looks at the Abidjan Principles to highlight the human rights obligations of states to provide public education and regulate private involvement in education. She makes the argument that innovation can be incorporated into public education without having to commercialise.
 On 23rd and 24th February 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Technical Cooperation Project (OHCHR TCP) and the Saudi Human Rights Commission brought together officials from the Ministry of Education, the National Center for Privatization to discuss the impacts of privatisation on the right to education and the relevant human rights standards, including the Abidjan Principles. The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was invited by OHCHR to provide technical support to the workshop.
- The legal sources and reasoning behind each of the guiding principles is being formalised in a Commentary to the Abidjan Principles. The Commentary is planned to be published in the International Human Rights Law Review from May 2021. This is the same journal where the Abidjan Principles were first published in June 2019. Professor Manisuli Ssenyonjo has agreed to edit all the pieces before publication.
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Spotlight Event
- On 16 April 2020, an online session, 'The Abidjan Principles on the right to education: A practical tool to address global challenges' was held virtually as part of #vCIES2020.
Chair: Frank Adamson, Sacramento University
Discussant: Hugues Moussy, UNESCO-IIEP
Presentations:
- The Abidjan Principles: from a unique drafting and adoption process to quick recognition and implementation presented by Salima Namusobya from ISER.
- Advocacy at the Local in Implementation of Abidjan Principle; the Civil Society Efforts in Nepal presented by Ram Gaire, Program Manager National Campaign for Education Nepal
- The development of a Francophone research network on the privatization and commercialization of education: research plans and perspective presented by Thibaut Lauwerier, University of Geneva
- Civil society data gathering in Canada presented by Eloise Tan, People for Education
- What do the Abidjan Principles tell us about the education landscape in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda? presented by Asmara Figue and Dr. Maria Ron Balsera from ActionAid, and Prof. Elaine Unterhalter, UCL
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 Presentation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 18 Feb 2020 |
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 Stakeholder Workshop by the GNECC, 15 March 2020
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) brought together members and stakeholders from across the country to learn more about on the Abidjan Principles in the context of the right to education in Ghana. This workshop is the first in several other planned events to discuss the privatisation of education in Ghana. The activities around the Abidjan Principles are funded by OSIWA. To learn more about this, please visit https://www.facebook.com/www.gneccgh.org/
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CIES 2020 panel discussion, 26 March 2020
Chair and Discussant: Prof. Keith Lewin, University of Sussex
Panellists include:
- Katie Malouf Bous, Oxfam International - The World Bank’s policy advice and funding in support of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for education provision: Fueling inequality through privatization?
- David Archer, ActionAid - Domestic financing of education: The 4 S Framework
- Dr. Maria Ron Balsera, ActionAid - Influencing education financing and tax policy to transform children’s lives in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda
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