scholarly journals The Islamic Republic of Iran and children’s right to education: acceptability & adaptability

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Shabnam Moinipour

Iran, as a United Nations member state, has made moral and legal commitments to conform to international human rights standards, including the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which address the right to education. This article reviews Iran’s commitments to children’s educational rights, drawing on the 4-A scheme developed by the former Special Rapporteur of the UN High Commission for Human Rights on Education, Katarina Tomaševski, whereby education should be available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable. It examines the State’s obligation to ensure education is acceptable and adaptable. It identifies a number of legal and political reasons why children are unable to claim their educational rights. It calls for substantial educational and societal reform and the prioritisation of the child’s best interests, over those of the State.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Shabnam Moinipour

The Islamic Republic of Iran is obliged to respect the right to education under international human rights law and has made legal commitments to conform to the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Drawing on the framework developed by former Special Rapporteur of the UN High Commission for Human Rights on Education, Katarina Tomaševski, that education must be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable, this article discusses Iran’s response to its obligation to make education available and accessible. It illustrates how the state is falling short in its duty to make education available and accessible to all children under its jurisdiction, reinforcing the gender inequities experienced by girls and practising religious discrimination in educational access.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39
Author(s):  
Enock Akattu

This paper evaluates the state of education as a human right and demonstrates that it is possible to implement and ultimately protect the right to education within a domestic context. Despite its importance, the right to education has received limited attention from scholars, practitioners and international and regional human rights bodies as compared to other economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). NGOs have been increasingly interested in using indicators to measure and enforce a state‘s compliance with its obligations under international human rights treaties. Education is one of the few human rights for which it is universally agreed that the individual has a corresponding duty to exercise this right. This paper first of all draws up an inventory of the many international instruments which mention the right to education and analysethem in order to obtain a more precise idea of the content of this right, which often appears blurred. The paper also discusses the right to education as it is guaranteed in articles 13 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC) and article 13 of the Protocol of San Salvador. The enjoyment of many civil and political rights, such as freedom of information, expression, assembly and association, the right to vote and to be elected or the right of equal access to public service depends on at least a minimum level of education, including literacy. Similarly, many economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to choose work, to receive equal pay for equal work, the right to form trade unions, to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and to receive higher education on the basis of capacity, can only be exercised in a meaningful way after a minimum level of education has been achieved. Similarly, this paper discusses education in Kenya as a basic need and a human right (enhancing access, participation, retention, achievement and quality of schooling) to girls and boys and by extension women and men especially with the promulgation of the new Constitution of Kenya 2010 that recognizes education as a Bill of Rights and everyone is bound by the Bill of Rights. This means that all people in Kenya must respect education as a human right. The Bill binds all government institutions and state officers. They are required to respect human rights and deal appropriately with the special needs of individuals and groups in our society. In this paper, the provision of education in the first 4 to 18 years of schooling is considered to be basic, thus a basic right in Kenya


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.


Author(s):  
Hilde Lidén

This chapter explores the ambiguities and changes in regulations concerning unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors within, as well across, the Nordic countries, with regard to the gap between restrictions, new policies and practices on one hand, and the human rights standards set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in immigrant-related legislation on the other. The chapter focuses on Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The chapter draws on research combining studies on documents and legal analyses (human rights conventions, national laws, regulations and court cases); an analysis of quantitative data from immigration authorities to identify particular areas of concern; and qualitative research, including fieldwork and interviews with unaccompanied minors, staff in reception centres, legal guardians and immigration authorities. The chapter highlights the growth in the discourse and policy of stricter immigration regulations over the best interests of the child.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-390
Author(s):  
Robert Johnson

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is a progressive human rights instrument by international human rights standards. The provisions of theunConvention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter are contrasted, noting stronger African provisions for the child’s ‘best interests’, stronger safeguards in areas of traditional or ‘cultural’ practices, and provisions concerning the ‘duties’ of the child and its implications for the child’s empowerment. Additionally, the African oversighting Committee holds stronger mandates than exist for theunCommittee on the Rights of the Child. However, reporting and monitoring practice by states parties and the oversight mechanism fall well short of such obligations and mandates. The paper proposes a range of measures to better ensure the rights of the African child, and their importance for the rights of all children and in advancing the international human rights treaty system.


Author(s):  
V. Dorina

The article is devoted to ensuring the best interest of the child and his right to education. Attention is paid to the problems associated with the implementation of this right by various groups of children, depending on their social status and ethnic origin. The author draws attention to the implementation of the law under study in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated the problems of gender inequality, the quality of educational services, as well as access to them. The need for certain actions on the part of the state is indicated, in particular, making changes to the curricula to bring them in line with the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in order to realize the right to education of the child from the standpoint of ensuring the best interest.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Mallon

Chapter 14 critically analyses the idea of education as a universal human right. It outlines existing international human rights mechanisms relevant to education as a right and critically assesses their ability to make that right a reality in a diverse world with different levels of ‘peace’, stability, conflict, cultural and socio-economic contexts. While recognising that the right to education includes all people regardless of age, the chapter mainly focuses on education as a right for children and, in particular, how the right to education for children in developing countries can be affected by violent conflict. In this regard, the work of UNESCO and the influence of Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are assessed along with a range of other rights mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Coomans Fons

This chapter discusses two human rights that belong to the category of economic, social, and cultural rights: the right to education and the right to work. It explains how the modern view of the nature of economic, social, and cultural rights can be applied to these rights. The chapter discusses the sources of the rights under international human rights law, their main features, and components; the obligations resulting from each right; and the relationship of each right with other human rights. Both rights are crucial for the ability to live a life in dignity and develop one’s personality.


The article focuses on the foundation and development of the universal legal basis of human rights education, which is an essential part of general education as an integral part of human rights. The provisions of general international legal instruments guaranteeing the right to education are analysed, in particular: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. Special attention is paid to the provisions of specialized acts on the regulation of education. In particular, the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in Education of 1960, adopted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which defines the main components of the right to education, clarifies the term “discrimination” in the field of education, and state parties’ obligations to eliminate or prevent discrimination. The provisions of universal acts adopted within the World Conference on Human Rights, the World Education Forum are disclosed, in particular: the Vienna Declaration and the Action Plan, the World Declaration on Education for All and the basic framework for action to meet basic educational needs, the Dakar Framework for Action, education for everyone: fulfilling our collective commitments, the World Program in Education, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training, Education 2030 – Incheon Declaration – Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all and others. Emphasis is placed on the activity of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and his / her chairmanship (OHCHR) on the development of human rights education. The focus is on the practical component of UNESCO’s activity in this area. Programs that operate under the auspices of a specialized institution are characterized by: a program to prevent violent extremism through education, education about the Holocaust and genocide, the importance of language in education, the rule of law through education. It focuses on the functioning of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aims to assist Palestinian refugees in providing access to quality education. Relevant conclusions are made.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-352
Author(s):  
Mónica Martínez López-Sáez ◽  
Roser Almenar Rodríguez

Gender-separate education, understood as a pedagogical model that provides separate schooling for boys and girls, has been subject to legal and public scrutiny for the past thirty years. Nonetheless, it has not been until 2018 that this educational option was put into the spotlight, especially regarding its constitutionality and compatibility with arts. 1.1, 9.2 and 14 of the Spanish Constitution, which constitute a manifestation of the principles of equality and non-discrimination, while at the same time trying to balance it with art. 27 of said constitutional text, with respect to the right to education and freedom to choose and create educational centers. Against this backdrop, the present paper reviews the constitutional state of play and makes further reflections from a rights-based perspective and taking into account the cultural pluralism that characterizes contemporary societies.


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