Strengthening public education and regulating private actors in education - the human rights perspective

• In Event: Reclaiming public education: The movement to defend a sustainable, just and human future for all

Proposal

Since the right to education was enshrined in the UDHR, and subsequently the ICESCR, there have been major changes in the way education is delivered around the world. Foremost among these changes has been the exponential growth in private providers of education, including particularly for-profit providers. This has raised difficult questions about the role of public education within this changing educational landscape: how does the increased availability of private education affect the state’s obligations to deliver public education? What are the human rights standards that should guide States and private providers alike in the provision of quality, inclusive education? Additionally, international, regional research and jurisprudence, supported by calls from UN bodies urging all States to “address any negative impacts of the commercialization of education” have consistently highlighted the risks where private interests and profit-making are sought over and above realizing human rights, including the right to education. These risks include economic discrimination and segregation; lower quality and unequal access to education for marginalised groups; frequent disregard for labour laws; the reinforcement of unbalanced power relations; and unequal participation in the governance of education.

At the same time, it has been a challenge to interpret the vast body of human rights law, as the norms relevant to the right to education appear in many international instruments and other legal sources. For human rights law to be effective in this evolving context, the existing legal framework needed to be clarified and consolidated. Since 2015, education stakeholders have been working to develop human rights Guiding Principles to help navigate this context. After a three-year consultative process culminating in February 2019, experts convened at a conference in Côte d’Ivoire and adopted the “Guiding Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education”, what have become known as the ‘Abidjan Principles'.

This landmark text compiles and unpacks the existing legal obligations of States regarding the delivery of education; to establish free, quality, public education systems for all; the obligations of States regarding the financing of public education; and to regulate private actors to guarantee that all participants involved in education are aligned towards the common aim of realising the right to education for all.​ It is an authoritative consolidation of international human rights law detailing and clarifying in a single text the applicable legal standards in the context of privatisation. As a tool, it provides guidance to States a in their efforts to put in place more coherent education policies for strengthening their public education systems and, ultimately, to implement the right to education for all.

This presentation will lay out the collective process behind the development of the Abidjan Principles and provide a summary of its normative content; briefly showcase its global recognition and its use at international, regional and national levels; and introduce the recently published Abidjan Principles commentary.

Author

• Aya Douabou, Global Initiative for Economic Social and Cultural Rights