NEW PUBLICATION: Bringing the Right to Education into the 21st Century

I’m really excited to announce the next article in our data analytics project that examines the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. For more on the background of this project, click here.

Jonathan Todres & Charlotte Alexander, “Bringing the Right to Education into the 21st Century,” Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 42 (forthcoming Winter 2024).

Click here for access to the full pre-publication draft.

Abstract

Education is not only foundational to children’s development, it also helps children realize the full range of their rights. Yet the international law mandate on the right to education has changed little since 1948. This static state has left the right to education unfulfilled for millions of children. This article argues that it is time to update the legal mandate on education, and in particular with respect to pre-primary and secondary education. The article starts by explicating the limitations in the current mandate on the right to education, and then evaluates whether so-called “soft law,” or non-binding measures, have helped fill the gap in existing treaty law on education rights. As a case study, the article uses a combination of manual review and computational text analytics to examine discussions of education in the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child from 1993-2020. These reports issued by the Committee evaluate states parties’ progress in meeting their children’s rights treaty obligations and, as such, are a primary vehicle for advancing the implementation of human rights. Finding that non-binding measures are insufficient in practice, the article concludes that the international community needs to agree to an updated legal mandate on education that ensures all children have access to an equitable start and can complete secondary education and develop to their full potential.