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Progress of the abidjan principles since july 2022

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Les informations ci-dessous sont principalement en anglais, veuillez défiler vers le bas pour une liste de ressources disponibles en français.
La información que figura a continuación está principalmente en inglés. Al final de la página encontrarás una lista de recursos disponibles en español.
Dear Abidjan Principles,
We hope you have been doing well since our latest update.

Today we are celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Abidjan Principles! 

In just four years, the Principles have been recognised by more than 10 human rights bodies and legal institutions. They were also recently referenced in the Tashkent Declaration, which was adopted at the UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education in November 2022. 

To date, the Abidjan Principles have been used for research, advocacy and litigation by various actors across South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. In addition to resources that can be found on the website, the book ‘Realizing the Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education’ was published in 2021. The book is openly accessible and was released alongside a series of videos featuring the contributing authors summarising their chapters. 

Below is an overview of some key developments since June 2022, as well as upcoming events for the months ahead.

For more information, follow developments on the Abidjan Principles website, and on Twitter via the hashtag #AbidjanPrinciples

Fourth Anniversary of the Abidjan Principles!

Below are some of the images used in our four-day countdown to this 4th Anniversary. Please join us in celebrating some of the APs achievements by posting on your own social media accounts!
 
Join us: #AbidjanPrinciples
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July 2022
Webinar presenting the report on privatisation and commercialisation of education in Senegal by La Coalition Des Organisations en Synergie pour la Défense de l'Éducation Publique (COSYDEP), mobilizing the Abidjan Principles.

Presentation on the Abidjan Principles at an advocacy workshop by the Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains (MIDH). 


September 2022
Blog post emphasising the problems with standardization recommends that defenders of education as a human right should focus on upholding standards, particularly national minimum standards and human rights, as outlined in the Abidjan Principles. The blog builds on a joint statement from civil society organisations on the IFC’s divestment from Bridge International Academies (BIA).


October 2022
Global Initiative for Economic Social & Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER) Uganda, the Center for Human Rights, Dullah Omar Institute and the Right to Education Initiative contribute to the drafting of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, General Comment 7. The general comment cites the Abidjan Principles in its outline of state obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights regarding private provision of social services. 

Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) prepares three briefs presenting essential information regarding the Principles. These can be used as a reference point for governments, educators and education providers in debates about the respective roles and duties of States and private actors in education.

Second edition of the University of Geneva course launched. The University of Geneva, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Right to Education Initiative and the Réseau de Recherche Francophone sur la Privatisation de l'Education and eduCoop invite applications from national civil society organisations in French-speaking countries to take part in the second edition of the training course "Research capacity towards advocacy for the right to education". The course applies the Abidjan Principles as part of the international framework on the right to education.

Tribune Jeunes Pour le Droit au Mali (TRIJEUD-Mali) participates in the first edition of the University of Geneva course on research capacity towards advocacy for the right to education. The prize for Best Report was awarded to TRIJEUD-Mali. Their report mobilized the Abidjan Principles focusing on "Working conditions of primary school teachers in private schools in Mali: the case of Commune III in the district of Bamako, from 2016 to 2022". The award provided support in implementing the organisation’s advocacy plan related to its report. 

“The Abidjan Principles in Practice”: a group of CSOs and academics held a learning session to provide a space for knowledge and experience sharing. 


November 2022
Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, the World President of World Organisation for Early Childhood Education (OMEP), mentions the Abidjan Principles in her speech at the UNESCO World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, stating ‘The Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education provide guidelines for States to define the public service obligations on non-state actors involved in education…’. 

Tashkent Declaration on Early Childhood Care and Education references the Abidjan Principles. The Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education was adopted at the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education. In a list of “pioneering international and regional initiatives”, the declaration expressly refers to the Abidjan Principles to demonstrate the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and regulate private involvement in education. 

Coalition Education attended the Paris Peace Forum High Level Round Table on “Innovative Financing for Education: How to take action?” alongside the Minister of Education of the Republic of Bangladesh, the Ambassador of Rwanda to France, UNICEF, the OECD and KOIS Invest. The Principles were referred to when discussing issues related to the privatisation of education. Watch the event here.


January 2023
Joint contribution to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education for her thematic report to the Human Rights Council coming in June 2023. In the joint submission, the Abidjan Principles are referenced as key to securing the right to education globally. 

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its partner Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains organise an online event to present their advocacy strategy based on the recommendations of their joint report on the impact of the privatisation and commercialisation of education in Côte d’Ivoire in light of the Abidjan Principles.
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September 2022 
Ghana National Education Coalition makes news with capacity-building sessions on the Abidjan Principles for stakeholders held in Accra. The Coalition brought together members and media stakeholders to equip them with knowledge and understanding of how to advocate for greater responsiveness from governments using the Abidjan Principles as a framework. 

November 2022
Article calls on the Kenyan government to find "more creative ways of funding education", and mentions the Abidjan Principles as a reference point.
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Below is a selection of screen grabs from the previous months displaying some of the interactions with the Principles.
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The Abidjan Principles are increasingly being used in academic literature and by researchers, demonstrating both their validity as a reference document on the right to education and the extent to which awareness of this fundamental text is spreading across academic disciplines and geographical regions. Below is a selection of recent publications. 
 
May 2022
New scientific article on early childhood financing in Brazil in light of the Abidjan Principles, by Andressa Pellanda (University of São Paulo) and Koumbou Boly Barry (UN & ICESCO). 

June 2022
Adrian Zancajo, Antoni Verger, and Clara Fondevila publish a paper entitled ‘Education privatization: Expanding spaces and new global regulatory trends in educational privatization’.
 
Toward Understanding the Global Landscape of Educational Pluralism. This paper explores the global and cross-national landscape of educational pluralism, its grounding in human rights law and contemporary debates, and how it might be measured cross-nationally. 
 
November 2022
New academic article: Why neoliberal ideology, privatisation, and other challenges make a reframing of the right to education in international law necessary, Klaus D. Beiter, Faculty of Law, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

January 2023
New book published this year, Shadow education in the Middle East: Private supplementary tutoring and its policy implications by Mark Bray & Anas Hajar.

New journal article (open access), titled The business of development: The institutional rationales of technology corporations in educational development, by Lara Patil. This paper analyses the institutional rationales of transnational technology corporations in the USA to test a tentative theory of transnational technology corporations’ engagement in educational development.
 
New Thematic Report Building and Strengthening the Legal Framework on ECCE Rights, Achievements, Challenges and Actions for Change, published in the context of the World Conference on Early Childhood Education and Care 2022 as a the result of a fruitful collaboration between UNESCO, the Right to Education Initiative (RTE), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP), the Oxford Human Rights Hub (Oxford University), the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education (OHCHR), and the Latin American Campaign for the Right to education (CLADE).
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April 2022

Plataforma en Defensa de la Escuela Pública Vasca (EEPAP), Basque country: The Abidjan Principles were one of the main arguments in an Open Letter to the Basque Parliament on the New Education Act. In the letter, the Platform for the Defense of the Basque Public School argues that the New Education Act leaves public schools in an even less favourable situation than at present and does not seriously 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 to the Education Commission of the Basque Parliament. Videos of the hearing are available here.

May 2022
The Brazilian Campaign for the Right to Education recently published a scientific article regarding early childhood education (ECE) financing in Brazil in light of Abidjan Principles. Summary: ECE is the stage of education most affected by the increase in funding but the new Fund (Fundeb) continues to encourage Public Private Partnerships without regulations. This article analyses the Constitutional Amendment 108 of Fundeb, and its regulatory and advisory legislation based on the Abidjan Principles.

June 2022
Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina: Class action against the Government of the City of Buenos Aires regarding its omission to control, monitor and sanction private schools that discriminate against students with disabilities within the enrollment process reached a favourable ruling. The legal arguments in the case introduce the Abidjan Principles as core obligations of the local State regarding inclusive education. 

September 2022
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Nepal: organize a judicial dialogue with judges of Nepal’s High Courts on right to education and discussed the relevance of the Abidjan Principles (APs) in regulating private education providers. As an expert invited to speak in the dialogue, the Supreme Court Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal made a presentation on the APs and underscored their usefulness to hold private educational institutions accountable. He also highlighted the fact that judges could refer to such international principles and standards in areas of human rights and public education.

January 2023
Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains, Côte d'Ivoire, presented its advocacy strategy around four pillars for the implementation of the 2022 report. One of the pillars is to advocate the harmonisation of national laws by mainstreaming the Abidjan Principles.

February 2023
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Nepal: Following the lines of thought expressed in the 2022 judicial dialogue (see above), recently Justice Phuyal, along with another Supreme Court Justice, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada made a judgement referring to the Abidjan Principles (such as 4, 7 and 8) stating that private educational institutions cannot escape from the general standards of operations set by the state, and in case of failure to do so, the state has a right to cancel their registration. This is the first time that the APs have been cited in a judgement by Nepal’s judiciary.

MORE

Bulletin d'information en français

Nous célébrons aujourd’hui le quatrième anniversaire des Principes d’Abidjan !

En seulement quatre ans, les Principes d’Abidjan ont déjà été reconnus par plus de dix organismes de défense des droits de l’Homme et des institutions juridiques. Ils ont également été récemment mentionnés dans la Déclaration de Tachkent adoptée à la Conférence mondiale de l’UNESCO sur l'Éducation et la Protection de la Petite Enfance (Novembre 2022).

À ce jour, les Principes d’Abidjan ont été utilisés pour la recherche, le plaidoyer et le contentieux par divers acteurs d’Amérique du Sud, d’Afrique et d’Asie. En plus des ressources disponibles sur le site internet, le livre Réaliser les Principes d’Abidjan sur le droit à l’éducation a été publié en 2021, en accès libre. Les auteurs ont aussi résumé leurs chapitres dans une série de vidéos.

Vous trouverez ci-dessous un aperçu des moments clés depuis juin 2022, ainsi que des événements à venir dans les prochains mois.

4ème anniversaire

Notre compte à rebours des quatres derniers jours a été amplement partagé sur Instagram et Twitter. Ci-dessous, vous retrouverez les images utilisées pour le célébrer. Rejoignez-nous pour célébrer les réussites des Principes d’Abidjan en partageant ces messages sur vos réseaux sociaux!

Rejoignez-nous avec #AbidjanPrinciples
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Plus d’informations en français:

Boletín en español

Hoy celebramos el cuarto aniversario de los Principios de Abiyán!

En tan solo cuatro años, los Principios han sido reconocidos por más de 10 organismos de derechos humanos e instituciones jurídicas. De igual manera, recientemente se hizo referencia a ellos en la Declaración de Tashkent, adoptada en la Conferencia Mundial de la UNESCO sobre Atención y Educación de la Primera Infancia (noviembre de 2022). 

Hasta la fecha, los Principios de Abiyán han sido utilizados para la investigación, la promoción y el litigio por diversos actores de América del Sur, África, Europa y Asia. Además de los recursos que pueden encontrarse en el sitio web, en 2021 se publicó el libro "Realizing the Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education". El libro es de libre acceso y se publicó junto con una serie de vídeos en los que las autoras y los autores resumen sus capítulos. 

A continuación se ofrece una visión general de algunos de los principales acontecimientos ocurridos desde junio de 2022, así como de los próximos eventos que tendrán lugar en los próximos meses. 

Para más información, siga las novedades en el sitio web de los Principios de Abiyán y en Twitter con el hashtag #AbidjanPrinciples. 

4º aniversario
La cuenta regresiva de cuatro días para el cuarto aniversario se ha puesto en marcha en Twitter e Instagram. A continuación se muestran algunas de las imágenes utilizadas en la celebración. ¡Por favor, únete en la celebración de los logros de los Principios de Abiyán mediante la publicación de estos mensajes en tus propias cuentas de redes sociales!

Únete a nosotras y nosotros: #AbidjanPrinciples

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.