scholarly journals The Right to Education in the Era of the ASEAN Community

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-236
Author(s):  
Ratna Juwita

Abstract The establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean) Community in 2015, marked a milestone of progressive regionalisation in the Southeast Asia region. The asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (aichr) and asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (acwc) were designated as pivotal organs to strengthen the realisation of the right to education as part of the rights guaranteed in the asean Declaration of Human Rights. The asean Political-Security and Socio-Cultural communities recognise the importance of human rights. This research analyses the realisation of the right to education by the asean member states. The Concluding Observations from international human rights monitoring organs are explored to describe the empirical situation of each member state. Subsequently, this article scrutinises the aichr and acwc within the framework of the asean community and critically assesses the realisation of the right to education under the works of the aichr and acwc. This article concludes the realisation of the right to education in asean is still challenging due to the problems of, inter alia, low allocation of resources in the education sector, high illiteracy and drop-out rates, gender discrimination in the non-traditional study program and access to quality education, especially for vulnerable groups. The aichr and acwc have not yet formulated specific formal instruments to address these situations. Since their respective establishment only a minor contribution has been made to advance the realisation of the right to education in the asean community. In order to protect the right to education, the aichr and acwc have to be strengthened institutionally and financially. It is also necessary to empower the aichr and acwc by a quasi-legal authority to assess and inquire the asean member states’ human rights’ performance. This step is a necessary for the aichr and acwc to make a tangible contribution to the realisation of the right to education in asean.

Author(s):  
Richard Siaciwena ◽  
Foster Lubinda

As a member of the United Nations, Zambia is committed to the observance of human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. This is evidenced, among others, by the fact that Zambia is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Zambia has a permanent Human Rights Commission that includes a subcommittee on child rights whose focus is on child abuse and education. Zambia also has a National Child Policy and National Youth Policy whose main objectives are to holistically address problems affecting children and youth. This paper focuses on the progress and challenges currently facing Zambia and the role of open and distance learning in addressing those challenges.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sumu Diya Mukesh

<p>This research examines how social stigmas related to sex work and sexual activity in India contribute to the creation of environments conducive to gender discrimination and the erosion of female rights. It seeks to understand, through the work of anti-trafficking staff and the lived experience of sex trafficking survivors in Kolkata, how this subsequently impacts survivors' ability to be successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities. Human trafficking directly limits the human rights and freedoms which development aims to facilitate and realise; it is fundamentally a development concern. Violations of human rights are a cause and a consequence of trafficking in persons, making their universal promotion and protection relevant to anti-trafficking. Females constitute 80 per cent of all sex trafficking victims, demonstrating that it is a significantly gendered crime. India is home to 40 per cent of the estimated global slave population, and operates as a destination, transit and origin country for all forms of human trafficking.   This research involved semi-structured interviews focused on experiences and understandings of social stigma with eight staff of the anti-trafficking NGO Sanlaap, one staff member of a partnering Government-run shelter home, and one focus group with eight sex trafficking survivors. Data were analysed thematically through concepts of human rights, social stigma, gender discrimination and vulnerability.  The results indicated that prioritising the protection and promotion of their human rights was integral to Sanlaap's success in rehabilitating and reintegrating survivors. This research, therefore, reinforces conceptual links between human rights violations and sex trafficking, and argues that preventative action needs to have a more central role in current anti-trafficking efforts. The results demonstrate that stigma is a manifestation of power, which enables the subordination and displacement of vulnerable groups, reinforces inequality and power imbalances, and continues to undermine survivor rights to reintegration. This study also highlights where there is a need to advance discourse about cultural rights and sexuality within anti-trafficking work in India, and to implement broader approaches to women's development as part of sex trafficking prevention strategies.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-287
Author(s):  
Sileshi B. Hirko

It is undisputed that education is instrumental both for socio-economic development and the enjoyment of other fundamental human rights. In particular, a tertiary education is very critical for less developed countries (LDCs) such as Ethiopia where education is considered a vital tool for sustainable development. Nonetheless, a quality tertiary education depends, inter alia, upon sufficient access to most copyrighted learning materials through a balanced copyright system with adequate room for flexibility. In fact, the tension between copyright protection and the right to education is integral to the global debate between intellectual property and human rights regimes. Despite its compelling socio-economic needs and its human rights obligation that dictate a broader room for flexibility, Ethiopia has adopted a very restrictive copyright system with a narrow set of limitations and exceptions (L&Es) for education. Further, both its copyright and criminal laws prescribe severe criminal sanctions for any act of copyright infringement. In so doing, Ethiopia has taken a legislative approach that exacerbates the problems related to both TRIPs’ implementation and access to learning materials. In the absence of a concrete step to rethink the approach, the effective utilisation of the constrained exception for education will be further undermined by TRIPs’ criminal enforcement in disregard of the socio-economic contexts of the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-386
Author(s):  
Ali Mohamed Aldabbas ◽  
Kamal Jamal Alawamleh ◽  
Worud Jamal Awamleh

Abstract This study examines the extent to which Jordan is committed to principles of compulsory and free basic education, by analyzing legislation in light of constitutional and international standards regarding the right to education. Methodology includes quantitative assessment of these principles using a questionnaire distributed to students and their teachers in a number of public schools in three Jordanian governorates. Three focus group sessions composed of students and their teachers were held. The study suggests that, whilst the Jordanian Constitution has explicitly adopted such principles, Jordanian law yet includes provisions that diminish providing free basic education to all children of compulsory age and that mitigate the number of students who drop out of school. This study proposes amending the title of Chapter II of the Constitution and Article 20 to ensure that all children living in Jordan enjoy the right to education.


Author(s):  
Nima Norouzi ◽  
Hussein Movahedian

The right to use one's mother language is affected by examining the nature of this right in the international human rights system. Speaking of linguistic rights requires examining this right in the context of general human rights and the rights of minorities. On the one hand, the right to use one's mother tongue is rooted in the “right to be different,” which itself is inspired by human dignity, and, on the other hand, because the linguistic rights of the majority are better guaranteed than the linguistic rights of the minority. This chapter examines the right to use one's mother tongue in the minority system; therefore, language rights can be divided into two approaches based on tolerance, which prohibits any interference with the choice of language and its use by governments, as well as an extension-based approach that seeks to protect the right to use language in various fields such as education, court, public arena, and government institutions.


Author(s):  
Bernadette Rainey ◽  
Elizabeth Wicks ◽  
Andclare Ovey

This chapter examines the protection of the right to education in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), discusses the provisions of Article 2 of the Protocol 1, and highlights the Strasbourg Court’s recognition of the connection of the right to education with the rights protected by Articles 8 to 10 of the Convention. It examines the developments concerning parents’ philosophical convictions and issues concerning religious symbols in the classroom.


Author(s):  
John Vorhaus

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares: 'Everyone has the right to education.' This implies that the right to education and training applies to all persons, including all persons in prison. This position is considered here from a philosophical point of view and it will receive some support. Yet it is not obvious that the position is correct, nor, if it is, how it is best explained. I will examine the basis for asserting a right to education on behalf of all prisoners, and consider what is required by way of its defence in the face of common objections. I illustrate how international conventions and principles express prisoners' right to education, and I look at how this right is defended by appeal to education as a means to an end and as a human right – required by respect for persons and their human dignity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Quinn ◽  
Jesse Levine

Human rights claims arising out of attacks on intellectual-human rights defenders (hrds), if brought, typically do not include claims for violations of academic freedom. As a result the standards are underdeveloped relative to other human rights claims and the scope of academic freedom violations globally. This may be in part due to a negatively reinforcing lack of familiarity with issues of academic freedom and the available standards for protection among human rights advocates, and in part to the fact that attacks on academic freedom often manifest as violations of other rights under which claims are brought (e.g. wrongful detention or torture). This article argues that existing human rights law would sustain claims for violations of academic freedom as independently and interdependently derived from the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to education. The article argues that including academic freedom claims in such cases has the benefit of providing an additional basis for relief while strengthening the claim for relief on a manifested violation by providing evidence of motive and intent. Including academic freedom claims also has the independent value of addressing the wider harms to the claimant-victim and society that result from attacks on intellectual expression and are not reached by relief on the manifested violation alone, including harms to a claimant-victim’s creative, intellectual or expressive work, and widespread chilling effects on creativity, teaching, publication and the free exchange of ideas in society.


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