A new seminar on Education as a Human Right will take place in the UK Parliament at the House of Lords on15th November. It will be a morning session, held online and at Parliament. It will follow on from the new Council of Europe Education Strategy (Learners First) that was launched on 29 September 2023 by the education ministers of European countries.
In this strategy the Council of Europe continues its championing of quality education and of the holistic long-term development of learners. The seminar will look at how a new framework can be developed to promote education as a universal human right throughout Europe.
John, who is currently leader of the UK Delegation to the Council of Europe, and is also the UK candidate for the role of Commissioner of Human Rights at the Council of Europe, said: “We need to be firm about education being a human right for two reasons. First, it will help ensure that every young person is entitled to a first-class education which they can use to develop their own lives. Second, it will help society by using education to underpin the democratic citizenship on which Europe is based in the face of attacks on it from extreme populism and general extremist behaviour.”
The Earl of Dundee, co-chairman of the seminar and former chair of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, added: “We can improve accessibility to education through the use of on-line learning and through international co-operation in higher education. This is of particular value in ensuring that good education continues for refugee students and moves us on in post-conflict rehabilitation.”
The seminar will look at what making a human right of education will bring to the subject and what benefits and support it brings. Further focus will be on: what needs to change from the point of view of legislation or regulation; how can accessibility to education can be improved (for example, by the use of online learning) and what action should take place for refugees; how can education continue during periods of conflict? As a result of the seminar, a number of specific projects will be identified for further action by all stakeholders, including governments, universities and the private sector.
It is expected that the seminar will take place in association with the Council of Europe and its inter-parliamentary Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media. Participants will be able to join in person and online. The results of the seminar should feed back to the higher education sector.
For further details: Earl of Dundee, dundeea@parliament.uk
Also the UK delegation office in London (Council of Europe), coepa.del@parliament.uk; 0044 207 219 2611/ 0044 207 219 3292; Nicholas Wright (Head of UK Overseas Office).
