The Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, deposited his report with the Human Rights Commission, which is holding its sixty-first session from 14 March to 22 April, in Geneva.
In his report, Mr. Muñoz Villalobos returns to the major themes developed by his predecessor, Mrs. Tomasevski: the realization of human rights through education; the battle against discrimination with regard to the right to education, educational quality and security; and the right to education in conflict situations.
The general economy of the report leads to the conclusion that the right to education continues to fight against major difficulties but that the political will continues to postpone wanting to surmount them.
The Special Reporter skewers in passing those who hold an essentially economic vision of education, believing as he does that we must think again firstly in terms of social as opposed to economic determinants. When an economic vision of education determines its politics, education itself is relegated to second or third position. He emphasizes that the excessive emphasis placed on the mechanisms of the market prevents the full and complete realization of the right to education. According to the Special Rapporteur, the instrumentalisation of education through utilitarian choices leads to inequalities. Inspired by Paolo Freire, he pleads in favour of an education founded on freedom, and the exercise and study of rights and responsibilities. At the same time, the Special Rapporteur wishes that the politics of the World Bank took human rights more firmly into account.
The Special Rapporteur insists equally on the importance of reinforcing the legal enforcement of the right to education, constructing indicators for the right to education, and fighting against discrimination, in particular with regard to young girls, migrant populations, handicapped people, indigenous peoples and minorities and, finally, protecting children in urgent situations.
In his report, the Special Rapporteur was equally moved to recall that the right to education is not limited strictly to quantitative access to education, but includes the values which reside within it. In the eyes of the Rapporteur, the free expression of pupils and their participation in the activities proposed to them are amongst the essential reference marks in learning and in respect for the rights of the child.
The Human Rights Commission is the principle organ in the UN system in the area of human rights. Created in 1946 by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and consisting of 53 State members, the Commission directs studies, prepares recommendations and elaborates projects of international instruments concerning human rights. It can equally investigate allegations concerning violations of human rights.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education was created by Resolution 1998/33 of the Commission. Mrs. Katarina Tomasevski, of Croatia, was named to this position in August 1998. In Resolution 2004/25, approved by the Economic and Social Council in Decision 2004/254, the Commission decided to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur by a period of three years and asked the Special Rapporteur to make her report at its sixty-first session. In July 2004 Mrs. Tomasevski was replaced by Mr. Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, from Costa Rica.
References
The report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/docs/61chr/E.CN.4.2005.50.pdf
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http://www.constellationart.org/
