In June 2024, at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed, presented her thematic report on 'Academic Freedom' and urged States and other stakeholders, including public and private educational institutions, to implement the ‘Principles for Implementing t

On 29 May 2024, RTE’s director, Delphine Dorsi, participated, as a discussant, in NORRAG online event on The Right to Pre-School Education. 

The Right to Education Initiative, in partnership with the Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN) and Oxford Human Rights Hub, organised an online training focussing on monitoring and reporting early childhood care and education (ECCE) from a human rights perspective in Africa with a focus on how to engage in advocacy with UN treaty bodies. 

Together with the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) and Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE), we have submitted a joint contribution to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education.

On April 19, a session entitled ‘The Impact of IFC Investments in Education: The Accountability Gap and Lessons for Other DFIs Organizers’, took place at the World Bank Civil Society Policy Forum Spring Sessions. The panel discussion was led by the East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights), and co-sponsored by the Right to Education Initiative, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GIESCR), ActionAid, and Oxfam. 

In March, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s (CAO) published its Compliance Investigation Report into the World Bank International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) investment in Bridge International Academies (BIA).

RTE has partnered with the Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN) and Oxford Human Rights Hub to launch an online training, in English and French,  which will focus attention on monitoring and reporting on ECCE from a human rights perspective in Africa, with particular focus given to how to engage in advocacy with UN Treaty bodies. 

On 13 February 2024, international experts, academics, education stakeholders and representatives of regional and international human rights systems gathered to celebrate five years since the adoption of the Abidjan Principles, a reference text and rapidly recognised authoritative resource on the right to education. 

More than 300 organisations, among them RTE, have sent a joint letter to UN representatives, raising major concerns about access and participation of civil society organisations in UN spaces, following the decision to limit participation for UN human rights bodies and mechanisms to in-person only. 

Read the letter below.

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