Exploring the Links Between Education and Human Rights

 
The war against terrorism is being carried out on many different fronts. But true peace, rather than a product of military victories, will come only through tolerance of differences between peoples and cultures, social and political inclusion, and respect for human rights and basic freedoms.

To explore these links, the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights held an International Consultative Conference on School Education in Relation with Freedom of Religion and Belief, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination in Madrid, Spain on November 23-25 (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/main.htm). It concluded that schools, and education in general, are important spaces for promoting social progress and equality, as well as peace.

Many studies have already shown that investing in education brings the highest returns of any type of public investment. It yields not only social equity and mobility, but also more efficient use of all factors of production and institutional change. In the long term, the level and quality of education in any given country are the best indicators of its productive and competitive potential. But beyond these practical benefits, the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls for education to be "directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups."

UN agencies and conferences have worked to create a framework and institutions to ensure universal access to education that does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, nationality, religion, beliefs or any other cause. The goal is to promote freedom of conscience, opinion, expression, information and research, as well as solidarity and peaceful coexistence between nations. But although significant progress has been made since 1948, it is still not enough to avoid catastrophic conditions in many parts of the world, many of which are coming to light in the context of the present campaign against terrorism.

To begin with, 21% of the world's adults (880 million people) are illiterate, and 113 million children do not attend school. Illiteracy is greatest among the poor (reaching 97% in the least developed countries) women (60%), ethnic and religious minorities and peasants (http://www.uis.unesco.org/uisen/pub/pub0.htm). Countries that exclude women from the educational system, such as Afghanistan, disqualify half of their available human capital. Similar results occur when other groups are the target of state discrimination or negligence. The problem is especially serious because education, besides being a fundamental human right in itself, is a prerequisite for attaining other basic rights. Uneducated people and social groups do not have equal access to information, and consequently lag in terms of power and essential freedoms. Without full access to information there can be no access to positive freedoms, as Nobel-prize-winning economist Amarthya Sen has argued.

Latin America is still developing the educational systems necessary to allow the full development of its human potential and access by ethnic and national minorities. Brazil is debating the introduction of an affirmative action law for blacks and Indians to improve their access to education and public sector jobs. In the Andean countries and Central America, the biggest challenge involves the right of indigenous communities to education that respects their languages, cultures, traditions, beliefs and values, as well as fair legal treatment and land titles. In general, Latin American educational systems favor urban populations over rural areas, where infrastructure and personnel are lacking. The region has made positive progress, however, in women's access to education and jobs, and general education indicators compare favorably to other regions.

In an effort to protect freedom of opinion and parents' right to participate in their children's education-especially in the case of minority groups-the UN makes it clear that education should not be a state monopoly. However, states should regulate and guarantee minimum quality standards for private education, as well as offer universal access to mandatory public education. Since the 1990s, however, free market policies have led to an increase in private education and the pauperization of public school systems.

Today, two educational systems-public and private-exist side by side. Private schools, accessible mostly to privileged economic groups, offer the best teaching methods, technology and access to information (through lab facilities, libraries, Internet access and bilingual classes). Graduates of these schools marry within the group and hire each other, especially in places where education is the main path to social mobility. This trend poses the greatest challenge to education in the region: If corrective measures are not taken, the two parallel systems could be the source of new, subtly corrosive means of discrimination and divisiveness.