Apr 14, 2023 | News
On 11 April 2023, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) convened an online panel of five human rights advocates from East and Southern Africa to discuss the obstacles preventing organizations working to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people in their countries from registering to operate. The webinar unpacked the advocacy and legal strategies that can, and indeed have been successfully used in some contexts, to challenge discriminatory laws and policies.
Feb 17, 2023 | Advocacy, News
In Mathare, Kenya, there is an urgent need to improve access to quality public education, and to regulate private actors providing educational services in the community. These were the conclusions of a consultation with members of the Mathare Community Education Taskforce (Taskforce) convened by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR).
Sep 12, 2022 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) underlines the need for the judiciary to step in to enforce the right to education and to improve access to quality education in Kenya. In addition, and in partnership with the East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights), the ICJ calls on the Kenyan authorities to adopt effective measures to ensure the effective implementation of public education and regulation of private actors in education, to meet its international legal obligations.
Apr 25, 2022 | News
From 21 to 23 April 2022, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABAROLI) East Africa Programme, in collaboration with the Southern African Chief Justices Forum (SACJF), the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Africa Judges & Jurists Forum, Advancing Rights in Southern Africa and ICJ Kenya, held a regional symposium of Chief Justices in Nairobi Kenya, to discuss digital transformation of judiciaries and the critical role of the judiciary in protecting human rights online in East and Southern Africa.
Jul 31, 2020 | Agendas, Events, News
The ICJ, together with the Global Initiative on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) and the Right to Education Initiative (RTE), held webinars on 24 and 31 July.
The discussions explored The Guiding Principles on the Human Rights Obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education (Abidjan Principles) and their application in the context of COVID-19.
The webinars focused respectively on public education and private education.
Participants included judges and representatives of civil society organizations from Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Sierra Leone.
“The aim of the conversation in these webinars is to better understand the problems facing civil society and judiciaries in the four countries in ensuring the protection of the right to education in the context of Covid-19 and the increased privatization of education,” said ICJ Commissioner Justice Jamesina King of Sierra Leone.
The Abidjan Principles, based in large measures on existing international law and standards, were developed by leading international experts and adopted in 2019.
They clarify and set out elements of State obligations to uphold the right to education and related standards in both public and private educational settings.
Participants were able to deepen their understanding of the Abidjan Principles as well as the increased pressure placed on education systems across Africa as a result of COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has dramatically exacerbated already well-known issues in the realization of the right to education” and the “divide in quality of access to education between public and private sectors,” added Justice King.
“Private actors in particular… have been reported to have capitalized on the pandemic to extend their business in the education sectors.”
Participants raised concerns about the use of public funds to support private actors in education, an issue which is addressed by the Abidjan Principles.
Ashina Mtsumi from the GI-ESCR, summarized the Abidjan Principles and emphasized that “States’ first priority should be public education, as there is no obligation for states to fund private actors in education.”
A theme emerging from the discussions was the important role of the State in regulating private actors in education in the context of the global pandemic. Judges discussed the role of the judiciaries in their respective countries in ensuring the protection of the right to education.
“Can courts force private institutions to continue [operating] or even reduce school fees as an incidence of the right to education?,” Justice Joel Ngugi of Kenya asked.
Justice Ngugi also highlighted the need for governments to ensure that schools are safe for all learners in the context of COVID-19.
Judge Lydia Mugambe said that while in Uganda the pandemic had seen some private schools continuing with online learning, learners in public schools had had to depend on State provision of learning through newspapers and news stations which had not been sufficient. In the COVID-19 context, States must ensure that they continue to “require private instructional educational institutions to meet the minimum standards set by the State”, as indicated by the Abidjan Principles.
“The real problem is that our infrastructure is bad, the education system is bad and we have had a constitutional right to education since 1994 and I am embarrassed to say that the Covid-19 crisis has not exacerbated the problems, but has exposed the problems and have left no place to hide for years and years of government negligence,” said former Justice of the Constitutional Court in South Africa Zak Yacoob.
Representative from civil society organizations from all four countries emphasized the increasing risks introduced to the right to education as a result of privatization of education in Africa.
Watch the first webinar here.
Contact:
Khanyo Farisè (ICJ Legal Adviser) e: Nokukhanya.Farise(a)icj.org
Tim Fish Hodgson (ICJ Legal Adviser) t: +27828719905; e: timothy.hodgson(a)icj.org
