This chapter analyzes Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, Quality Education, by comparing its content to the standards of international law – in particular, human rights law and trade law. It focuses on the added value of SDG 4 for the further development of the right to education in international law and in relation to international institutions. It analyzes three themes: the existence of an international body of law on education; education as a public good versus education as a commodity; and the need to regulate the conduct of private actors in education. SDG 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action politically reaffirm the legal obligations that states have under human rights treaties. International human rights law, in general, and the right to education, in particular, have paved the way for a strong implementation of SDG 4 at the domestic and international level through a human rights–informed approach.

INTRODUCTION

In many countries, the state is the main provider of educational services. The state is the main actor in organising the education system; it determines the curriculum, builds schools, provides teaching materials and pays teacher salaries. This applies to primary education, secondary education and higher education and also to vocational education. Children have a human right to education. The state has a duty to make education available and accessible. As a counterpart, most states have laid down in their domestic legislation an obligation for children up to the age of 16 or 18 to attend school. This system of compulsory education is fundamental for guaranteeing that children are able to benefit fully from learning and preparing for adult and professional life. The right or entitlement to education is part of international human rights law.

The assumption has always been that the state is the key duty-holder for making the right to education a reality. Non-public, private education has always been a possibility for religious or other groups to establish their own educational institutions according to their own beliefs or educational views. This freedom of education is also part of international human rights law. In the world of today, one can witness a new trend, namely the introduction of corporate players on the educational scene.

This chapter discusses the growth of private, non-public education in a number of African countries. It focuses on the initiatives to introduce private, low-fee schooling in primary and secondary education by joint ventures of private groups and companies supported by donor governments and intergovernmental organisations. The chapter discusses as examples developments in Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Liberia. It looks at these developments from the perspective of extraterritorial human rights obligations of states that either provide financial support to such private parties, or are the home state of companies active in providing or supporting educational services abroad.

This contribution departs from the idea that states have extraterritorial human rights obligations for the effects of their own actions and omissions in other countries, and as the home state of companies who, as a result of their activities abroad, affect the economic, social and cultural rights of people living there.

Introduction

In 2015 the theme of the annual Theo van Boven lecture was Contemporary Forms of Slavery. This is a current problem today, not only in developing countries, but also in developed countries all over the world. One may think of children in African countries who work on cocoa bean plantations, but also involuntary employed domestic workers in the Gulf region and forced prostitution in European countries. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Jean Allain, a renowned international expert on the legal aspects of slavery. In his lecture Prof. Allain focused on the role and responsibility of human rights scholars to address contemporary forms of slavery by studying the legal history of the concept of slavery. The presentation by Prof. Allain was followed by a response from Dr. Aidan McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery International, a leading human rights NGO. In his reaction Mr. McQuade, from a more practical perspective, dealt with the relationship between contemporary forms of slavery, political power positions, political will and the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Prof. Jean Allain holds the Chair in Public International Law at Queen's University, Belfast. He is a generalist in public international law with a specialisation in human rights and is the leading legal expert on issues of slavery and trafficking. He is also the Director of the Human Rights Centre of Queen's University. In 2015, Prof. Allain was appointed Special Adviser to Anti-Slavery International. Prof. Allain's recent publications include: Jean Allain, The Law and Slavery: Prohibiting Human Exploitation, Martinus Nijhoff, 2015, 640 pp.

Dr. Aidan McQuade is Director of Anti-Slavery International, the oldest international human rights organisation in the world, founded in London in 1839, which works to eliminate all forms of slavery around the world. He graduated from Queen's University Belfast with a civil engineering degree and then worked in Ethiopia for Concern and Caritas Switzerland, Médecins Sans Frontières Holland in Afghanistan and Oxfam in Angola before taking up the post at Anti-Slavery International in 2006.

Introduction

On Wednesday 12 November 2014 the 5th Theo van Boven lecture was held at the Faculty of Law.

The 2014 lecture was delivered by Mrs. Hilani Jilani from Pakistan. The title of her address was “Defending Rights: Human Rights Defenders in the Front Line”. Human rights defenders are persons, groups or organisations who stand up and speak out for respect and protection of human rights. They denounce human rights violations by states and non-state actors. In many cases human rights defenders have been subject to harassment, threats, arrest, detention, unfair trials, ill-treatment and sometimes killings. Mrs. Jilani was the first Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000–2008. This position performs an important protective function where human rights of defenders are at risk.

Hina Jilani is internationally recognised for her expertise in critical human rights investigations. In February 1980 with her sister Asma Jahangir, she co-founded Pakistan's first all-female legal aid practice, AGHS Legal Aid Cell (ALAC) in Lahore. Initially the activities were confined to providing legal aid to women, but gradually these activities increased to including legal awareness, education, protection from exploitation, legal research, counselling and providing legal assistance as well. She is also one of the founders of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Women's Action Forum (WAF) (a pressure group established in 1980 campaigning against discriminatory legislation) and also founded Pakistan's first legal aid centre in 1986. A lawyer and civil society activist and active in the movement for peace, human rights and women's rights in Pakistan for the last three decades, she specialises in human rights litigation, and is especially concerned with the human rights of women, children, minorities, bonded and child labour, political and other prisoners. She has conducted several cases which have become landmarks in setting human rights standards in Pakistan. In July 2013, she joined The Elders, a group of statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates, brought together by Nelson Mandela.

INTRODUCTION

Food issues are prevalent in many societies. The Arab Spring began with popular unrest and riots in Tunisia about rising food prices. In India access to food for the most vulnerable groups in society is a permanent struggle. 800 million people in India have to rely on subsidised rice in order to survive. Farmers in Mozambique have been evicted from their land by companies for the construction of palm oil plantations. Farm land is taken away from small farmers in order to produce biofuels instead. In Europe, a rising number of people pay weekly visits to charitybased food banks to receive food packages to have a few basic meals a week. Many, but not all of these incidents happen as a result of actions of governments and transnational corporations. Economic benefits, making profit, market forces and trade often prevail over the food and land interests of local people and vulnerable members of society. The human rights dimensions of these types of economic processes are often missing or ignored. The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the normative aspects of food and land issues.

The question that will be discussed is how the realization of access to food and land for farmers and consumers can be approached from a human rights perspective. In other words, what are the components of a human rights approach to food and land issues? In international human rights law a normative framework has been developed which has the potential of guiding the actions of key stakeholders, such as governments, civil society organizations and individuals. The approach which will be followed in this chapter to answer the question identified above is a normative analysis of relevant hard and soft human rights law. The framework that will be applied is a human rights-based approach which consists of a number of principles or components. The different elements of such an approach will be applied to food and land issues. In general, these components include the notions of right-holders, duty bearers, different types of obligations, non-discrimination, protection of vulnerable groups, participation, transparency and the availability of accountability mechanisms and legal remedies.

Introduction

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (‘UNESCO’) is well known for its activities that promote the right to education, the freedom of expression and the cultural rights of individuals and groups. Member states of UNESCO have also adopted Conventions and recommendations that aim at the promotion and protection of the human rights that fall within the organisation's mandate. One of these Conventions deals with the right to education. The Convention Against Discrimination in Education (‘CADE’) was adopted in 1960. It is rather obscure, owing to its relatively small number of states parties, its weak supervisory system and the difficulty of getting access to Convention documents. According to its preamble, the main purpose of the Convention is to proscribe any form of discrimination in education and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for all in education. In addition to provisions that lay down in detail general obligations of states parties to realise the purposes of the treaty, the Convention recognises the right of members of national minorities to carry on their own educational activities. After discussing the features of the Convention and its monitoring procedure, this chapter will analyse the meaning of the minority rights provision and ask whether that provision has been given substance by the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations. This is the body that monitors implementation of the Convention's provisions by UNESCO member states.