Flor Estudio
Dear colleagues,
In mid- February the Abidjan Principles entered into the fourth year of their existence. Amidst the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasingly complex education landscape, they continue to offer a vital resource to understand rights, obligations and responsibilities. To mark their journey and celebrate their ageing, we held two webinars, one focusing on profit-making and commercial practices in education, and another introducing the Spanish and Portuguese language translations of the Abidjan Principles to frame a regional discussion on the relevant trends on the right to education and privatisation in Latin-America.
Below is an overview of a few key developments since December 2021, as well as upcoming events for the next few months ahead.
Stay tuned and scroll down to find out more!
For more information, follow the developments on the Abidjan Principles website, and on Twitter via the hashtag #AbidjanPrinciples
Judges share their thoughts on the Abidjan Principles
In February 2022, during the lead up to the third anniversary of the Abidjan Principles, a series of videos were published in which judges share their thoughts on the use and value of the Abidjan Principles.
The Abidjan Principles are now available in five languages
Since April 2022, the Abidjan Principles have become available in Spanish and Portuguese, adding to the French, Arabic and the original English versions.
The animated video “Education is Ours” is launched in Spanish
On 20 April 2022, following the successful launch of “Education is Ours” last November, an animated video on the Abidjan Principles, was launched in Spanish. “La Educación es Nuestra”, narrated by Chilean activist and singer Ana Tijoux, tells the story of three children from Kenya, the USA and Chile and the typical challenges they face in accessing quality education. The English version of the video, narrated by Kenyan Actress, Sarah Hassan has already been viewed over 122,000 times on YouTube!
February 2022
To reflect on the journey of the Abidjan Principles on their 3rd birthday, a lively discussion was held on the topic of profit-making in education on 14 February 2022. The webinar, which was titled “Towards the end of profit and commercial practices in education?” debated the emergent consensus behind the need to reconsider how profit-making is dealt with in education. The event, co-hosted by Right to Education Initiative, GI-ESCR, ISER Uganda, the Equal Education Law Center and GEM Report UNESCO, was attended by 130 people. It was moderated by Professor Sandra Fredman, Professor of the Laws of the British Commonwealth and the USA at Oxford University, and featured participation from Manos Antoninins, the Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report, Sobhi Tawil, the director of UNESCO’s Future of Learning and Innovation Team, Salima Namusobya, Executive Director of the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), Dr Jacqueline Mowbray, Assistant Professor at the University of Sydney and Jitu Brown, National Director of Journey for Justice Alliance, U.S.A.
A recording of the webinar is available here.
March 2022
Pan African Civil Society Consultative Forum ahead of the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Nairobi, Kenya
Ashina Mtsumi from the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) participated in this Forum and stressed the importance of education policy being guided by the elements of the right to education, as expounded in the Abidjan Principles, to ensure universal access to education and learning. The meeting produced a final communique that was presented to the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers during 27-28 April. The communique highlighted that when welcoming additional resources into the public education system by non-state partners through 'innovative financing', these initiatives should be subject to safeguards and close monitoring as reflected in the Abidjan Principles to ensure human rights compliance.
Joint webinar exploring the perspectives on the 2021-2 UNESCO GEM Report on non-State actors in education
Held on 21 March, the webinar sought to discuss some of the key themes in the report, including but not limited to the regulation and accountability of non-state actors, and the role of non-state actors in education in emergencies. Delphine Dorsi, director of the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) presented a paper co-authored with Sylvain Aubry of GI-ESCR, and Professor Frank Adamson of Sacramento State University on how to evaluate evidence on non-State actors’ involvement in education with the support of the Abidjan Principles. The event was orgnised by the Global Campaign for Education and the Education Out Loud.
April 2022
CIES conference
As part of the 66th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) titled “Illuminating the Power of Idea/lism”, two presentations from the panel session ”Strengthening Public Education: Tools and Experiences for aligning Education Policies with the Right to Education” focused on the Abidjan Principles. In his presentation, Sylvain Aubry laid out how the normative content of the Abidjan Principles can guide States in their efforts to put in place more coherent education policies for strengthening their public education systems. In another illuminating contribution, Delphine Dorsi outlined how researchers can use the Abidjan Principles to measure if and how States are implementing and individuals are enjoying the right to education. The panel was held in hybrid format.
A workshop titled "Strengthening Education in Practice: Using the New Tool of UNESCO-IIEP for aligning Education Planning Documents with Human Rights Law" was also held during the CIES conference. The aim of this workshop was to illustrate how IIEP’s new assessment tool, developed against the standards of the Abidjan Principles, might be used for assessing the alignment of education planning documents with the international human rights law framework on the right to education, including the Abidjan Principles.
Mesa redonda sobre el derecho a la educación y la privatización en América Latina
A roundtable discussion was held on the current landscape for the right to education in the Latin American region, including the common challenges regarding privatisation on April 20.
The event, where the Spanish and Portuguese language versions of the Abidjan Principles, as well as the animated video “La Educación es Nuestra” were introduced, brought together state representatives, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), academics and experts of regional human rights bodies to share experiences of how the Abidjan Principles can and have already been used in the region and in their national contexts to advance the realisation of the right to education. The debate was moderated by Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, Executive Director of GI-ESCR, and Soledad Garcia Munoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights of the IACHR.
The recording of the event, which was held in Spanish, is available here.
May 2022
Between 18-20 May at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference (WHEC), Juliette Torabien from the University of Luxembourg promoted the Abidjan Principles during the round table on higher education as a human right: perspectives from youth and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, stressing states’ obligations to regulate private actors’ involvement in education.
June 2022
Seminar on the privatisation of education in five francophone African countries
On June 28, the francophone researchers' network on privatisation of education held a seminar in Dakar, Senegal presenting the findings of monographs the network developed on the issue of privatisation of education in five francophone African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Niger and Togo. During the seminar, COSYDEP (the Senegalese education coalition) presented its findings, which were measured against the Abidjan Principles.
Training course on mobilising the Abidjan Principles for research and advocacy
The University of Geneva (UNIGE), in partnership with the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) and the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) organised an online training course between October 2021 and June 2022, on mobilising the Abidjan Principles for research and advocacy on the right to education. It brought together 15 participants representing civil society organisations from 10 francophone African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Conakry, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, DRC and Senegal. The training included a theoretical and a practical component where participants conducted field data collection. As deliverables, research papers were produced by participants to address aspects of education privatisation peculiar to their countries, linked to the Abidjan Principles. The goal of this training was not only to strengthen the capacities of CSOs in Francophone Africa in terms of research methodology, but also to further document the impact of privatisation of education in the Francophone space.
22 September 2022
A webinar titled "États des lieux de la privatisation en Afrique francophone, regards croisés" (the status of privatisation in francophone Africa, cross analysis) will be held on the Mobilisation day against commercialisation of education, organised by the francophone network against commercialisation of education. More information and the registration link for the event will be posted on social media and other channels soon!
NCE Nepal prepared a brief on the Abidjan Principles in the Nepali language which was then disseminated at the local level, especially with local governments to inform them of the Abidjan Principles and influence in the local education preparation process. The brief was also disseminated to inform human rights bodies in Nepal, including the human rights commission, women commission and dalit commission.
ICJ Nepal led a workshop on litigating lawyers focused on the international human rights law and standards on right to education under the Abidjan Principles in regard to public education and regulation of private actors. At the end of the workshop, the lawyers decided to form an action group to contemplate and potentially pursue strategic litigation on the right to education.
The Abidjan Principles were mentioned as one the main arguments of the Open Letter to the Basque Parliament on the New Education Act, in which it is argued that the New Education Act leaves the Public School in an even less favorable situation than at present and does not sufficiently address the pressing issue of school segregation. Furthermore, the new act strengthens the standing of publicly-funded but privately-run schools, which make up almost half of the educational system, and are a key cause of school segregation. The Abidjan Principles were then presented at the Education Commission of the Basque Parliament. Videos of the hearing are available here.
In February 2020, the Mouvement L’école ensemble sent a report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in which it called on the UN body to make the Quebec government accountable for its (unofficial) school segregation policy as far as its human rights obligations are concerned. The Mouvement’s report is based on the Abidjan Principles and shows that nine of these principles are currently being violated in Quebec's education system.
An April 2022 news article from The Star titled Why education sector got biggest budget share of Sh544 billion explains how “Kenya has over the years invested heavily in the sector making it one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa to sustainably fund education. This is in alignment with the Abidjan Principles which underscore the need for states to prioritise the funding and provision of free, quality, public education.”
Impacts of Digitalisation of Education on the Right to Education
The new annual report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur Dr Koumbou Boly Barry relies heavily on the Abidjan Principles. The Report reiterates that “States and other stakeholders should address the risk of increased privatization of education systems and institutions through digitalization processes. The Special Rapporteur recommends: (a) Full abidance to the Abidjan Principles, in particular the adoption of rules and regulations for the private sector in this area, and to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; (b) Coordinated efforts to ensure that education receives adequate financing and that domestic and international budgets are protected to ensure the right to free, quality, public education”.
Delphine Dorsi from the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) and Valentina Contreras and Vincente Silva both from the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) co-authored a chapter in Social Rights and the Constitutional Moment: Learning from Chile and International Experiences. The chapter argues that the Abidjan Principles could provide practical and legitimate guidance to address constitutional gaps in the right to education in Chile, particularly on critical themes in the Chilean context such as the content of education, the organisation, governance, and financing of education systems, the role and limitation of private schools and the regulation of private education.
Andressa Pellanda, of the Brazil Campaign for the Right to Education (BCRE) recently published an academic article regarding early childhood financing in Brazil in the light of Abidjan Principles. It highlights that early childhood education is the stage of education most affected by the increase in funding but it continues to encourage PPPs without regulations. It then analyises the Constitutional Amendment 108, of the new Fundeb, and its regulatory and advisory legislation based on the Abidjan Principles.
This new report by Human Rights Watch details how children’s rights were violated by governments that heavily endorsed online learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic by putting at risk or directly violating children’s privacy and other rights, for purposes unrelated to their education. They cite the Abidjan Principles to push for governments to “ban commercial advertising and marketing in public and private instructional educational institutions, and ensure that curricula and pedagogical methodologies and practices are not influenced by commercial interests".
