Justiciability & Litigation

The law of Delict in South Africa (which would be called “the law of torts” elsewhere) has a complicated legacy. It is part of the South African common law – a colonial artefact originating from Roman Dutch law. After Apartheid ended, racist and authoritarian laws had to be abolished or amended to be consistent with a variety of rights enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa, 1996.

Although the majority of countries recognise the right to education through international and national law, the fulfilment of the right to education is far from being a reality. This is why we have launched a campaign to make sure the right to education is enforceable in countries around the world. Citizens should be able to take their governments to court if they violate this right. If they can’t, a vital route to accountability is missing.

The new Global Education Monitoring Report is ground-breaking in placing accountability at the centre of its attention. As the report notes, the concept of accountability was shockingly absent from the framing of the Sustainable Development Goals–making it relatively easy for heads of state to sign up to them, as they could be confident that there were few consequences if they failed to deliver.