EENET asia Newsletters : Third issue November 2006 Contents

Human Rights Institutions in Asia-Pacific Call for Realisation of EFA

31st July to 3rd August 2006, Suva, Fiji

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in Asia-Pacific have called on governments to maximize the allocation of resources to ensure the realization of the right to education. NHRIs will also assist governments in the region in a review of progress towards the attainment of the Education for All (EFA) goals.

Representatives of NHRIs gathered for the annual Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) from 31st July to 3rd August 2006, in Suva, Fiji. The forum is one of the largest human rights events in Asia Pacific and was hosted by the Fiji Human Rights Commission.

The APF is a non-profit organization that gives national human rights institutions the opportunity to share and learn from each other’s experience, contribute to the promotion of human rights in the region, and function as the regional coordination focal point between the institutions.

During the Fiji meeting, the Advisory Council of Jurists (ACJ), which advises the APF Forum Council on the interpretation and application of international human rights standards, made a set of 19 recommendations to the NHRIs (which refers to members of the APF only) in relation to the protection and promotion of the right to education. Based on the interim report prepared by the ACJ, the recommendations include:

• NHRIs should assist their governments in defining, promoting, providing and monitoring the right to education. In accordance with international standards, primary education should be compulsory and available free to all. Secondary and vocational or technical training should be generally available and accessible to all
• NHRIs should ensure that their governments acknowledge that education is a right that is vital to both individual development and economic growth. To this end, NHRIs must encourage governments to allocate the maximum available resources to ensure the realization of the objectives of the right to education
• NHRIs should ensure that national EFA plans and other education sector strategies are devised, monitored and implemented in accordance with a rights-based approach
• NHRIs should assist their governments in the review of progress towards the EFA goals of 2015 by ensuring that rights based indicators, recently developed by UNESCO and UNICEF are utilised in the review.

Sheldon Shaeffer, Director of the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok also spoke during the meeting, highlighting the major challenges the region is facing in achieving EFA by 2015. He also clarified the link between the right to education, rights in education and rights through education, and discussed the core principles of creating a right-based education system.

He also talked about quality education, and UNESCO and human rights education strategies. UNESCO and APF had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly promote universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, support the Plan of Action of the World Programme for Human Rights Education, and recognize the financial and technical assistance needs of human rights institutions, among others. Download Sheldon Shaeffer’s presentation during the meeting. Visit our website for more information about UNESCO Bangkok and human rights education (www.unescobkk.org/ehr) or e-mail j.lindeberg@unescobkk.org. To know more about APF, visit their website (www.asiapacificforum.net)

EENET asia Newsletters : Third issue November 2006 Contents