GI- ESCR hosts successful webinar to celebrate two-year anniversary on the Abidjan Principles on the right to education
On 12 February 2021, GI-ESCR hosted a successful webinar to celebrate and reflect on the 2-year journey of the Abidjan Principles on the right to education as well as to look forward to the role that the right to education can play in the current context including the COVID-19 context .
The webinar began with the launch of the fifth in a series of videos released every week preceding this event to provide background on the Abidjan Principles and how stakeholders can take action. The fifth and last video is a two-minute animation explaining the need for the Abidjan Principles.
The webinar was fullly suscribed, with participants also joining on the online livestream.
The event included the view points from 10 speakers, reflecting the diversity of the use and mobilisation to support the Abidjan Principles, including from States, the judiciary, international organisations, experts, civil society organisations, and social movements:
Professor Ann Skelton, Chair of the Abidjan Principles Drafting Committee
Dr Koumba Boly Barry, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Soledad García Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Hélène Ferrer, Head of Gender, education, population and youth unit Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, France
Hon. Lady Justice Lydia Mugambe, High Court Judge, Uganda
Professor Aoife Nolan, Vice-President of the European Committee of Social Rights
Dr Elaine Unterhalter, Professor of Education and International Development, Institute of Education, University College London
Ram Gaire, Program manager, National Campaign for Education - Nepal
Stéphane Vigneault, Coordinator, Mouvement L’école ensemble , Québec
Amélie Gagnon, Head of Development Unit, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
The event was moderated by Joshua Castellino, Executive Director at Minority Rights Group.
The Constitutional Court in South Africa incorporated provisions of the Abidjan Principles on the right to education ... to find that private schools cannot use contracts to justify children expulsion from school where such terms are against the best interest of the child and against the constitutional rights of the child.
Professor Ann Skelton, Chair of the Abidjan Principles Drafting Committee.
My highlight is that the courts have been equipped authoritatively to direct governments to refer to the Abidjan Principles in their development of education policies. I am one among the first judges to direct the Ministry of education to refer to the Abidjan Principles in managing and controlling the excesses of private actors in education.
Hon. Lady Justice Lydia Mugambe, High Court Judge, Uganda.