GI-ESCR participated in a workshop on strategic litigation for access to education in Kenya

On 9 September 2022, GI-ESCR joined other civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nairobi, Kenya in a discussion on strategic litigation for access to education. The engagement was organised by the International Commission on Jurist (ICJ) Africa and the East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights).

The forum provided an opportunity to unpack the development of socio-economic rights in Kenya looking at the jurisprudence that has been set by the Kenyan courts on the rights to education, health and housing. The discussion also explored lessons learned from these experiences that can be leveraged to strengthen strategic public interest litigation for the right to education.

The workshop was framed by two panel discussions; the first focusing on the lessons learned from strategic litigation on the rights to health and housing in Kenya, and the second focusing on comparative case studies on strategic litigation for access to education in South Africa and Colombia.

GI-ESCR 's Ashina Mtsumi presented the Abidjan Principles on the right to education and led a discussion on their potential use in strategic litigation, highlighting instances where they have been cited even by the court in its judgment. For instance in Uganda, the High Court directed the Ugandan government to seek guidance from the Abidjan Principles when designing education programs in the country, particularly when considering minimum standards and regulations for private actors in education.

For more on our work on the right to education, click here.