Introductory slides to the Human Rights Guiding Principles on State obligations regarding private schools and the consultation process. It reviews the key concepts, concept, purpose, and development process of these Guiding Principles. For more information, see http://bit.ly/GPprivatisation.

1. Human rights Guiding Principles
on State obligations regarding
private schools

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE DAY
 OBJECTIVE: Get input from the various constituencies on human rights
principles on the provision of education
Organisation of the day
 Context on private actors in education provision
 The right to education and private education
 Organisation and objective of the Guiding Principles
 The process of developing these Guiding Principles
 How the consultation will be organised today to ensure maximum participation in providing
inputs and incorporating them most effectively: the golden rules
 Jump into (inter)action!

3. What are Human Rights
Guiding Principles and why
do we need them?

4. Looking at ETOs and their Effectiveness
• Please refer to the handouts on
•Maastricht Principles on extraterritorial obligations
http://bit.ly/ETOPples
•Effectivity of human rights Guiding Principles
http://bit.ly/2nBUqrD
1. What are human rights Guiding Principles?
2. How do you think these principles can be useful?

5. Why do we need principles and guidelines on
private education?
1. To set standards and provide a broadly accepted
normative framework to inform debates on privatisation
in education
2. To provide guidance to States in addressing the issue /
implementing international law
3. To provide a framework for researchers and civil society
organisations to assess the role of private actors in
education

6. What are human rights guiding
principles?
• Quasi-legal: authoritative interpretation of the law
• Unpack legal principles  from ideology or what we
think
• Concrete guidance on specific topics
•E.g.: forced evictions
•E.g. Education in emergency
•E.g. business and human rights

7. 7 golden rules to define Guiding
Principles
1. Neither too abstract (have to be concrete enough) nor too precise
(have to be universal enough)
2. Keep it as simple as possible, remove all the words that can be
3. Broadly accepted and backed by the law
4. It lays out States’ obligations – not private actors’ obligations
5. Keep it as a technical analysis, not a political declaration
6. This is legal language: it can be dry and grammatically challenging.
7. Remain within the scope of the Principles: here, related to State
obligations and private actors – not going too broad.

9. Education
systems that
ensure social
justice and
protect
human
dignity
Define
international
legally backed
standards
Clarify
normative
framework /
rights and
obligations
Build
consensus
around which
a broad range
of actors can
engage
Facilitate
research
against agreed
framework
Build a strong
movement /
Mobilise and
raise
awareness
where there
are issues
Hold
authorities
accountable on
the basis of the
standards
Theory
of
change

10. Potential use of Principles
 Greater visibility to the issue, reinforce and strengthen jointly
discussed and agreed upon position based on HR
 Set standards and provide broadly accepted normative
framework to inform debates on private schools
 Help assess role of private schools in education
 Provide guidance to States and simultaneously use to hold
States accountable
 Provide a basis for advocacy, policy development and
litigation

11. Potential use: who could use them?
 All: facilitate dialogue, develop constructive human-rights compliant
solutions
 States: design human rights-compliant policies and plans, engage dialogue
with donors and private sector
 Civil society: clarify positions, advocacy campaigns
 Academics: research against agreed normative framework
 Lawyers, judges: reference point for legal interpretation
 International institutions: build programs with States and CSOs to enhance
the realisation of the right to education
 Private sector: better understanding of the applicable legal framework

12. Process of Development

13. Guiding
Principles
Expert Input
Country
research
Consultations
(National,
regional,
international)
Conceptual
research

14. A Steering
Committee +
group of “friends”
(provide guidance
to process)

15. What are the final outputs?
◦ Guiding Principles
◦ A legal commentary
◦ A series of short explainers for the public and various audiences,
including a document to guide States on regulating private schools
and a guide on PPPs
◦ A methodological guide to conduct research and assessment,
including an assessment tool: the Privatisation Analysis Framework
(PAF), together with research questions/indicators

16. Date Activity
January - June 2016 Development of an initial draft
March 2016 - June 2017 Development of expert background papers on key issues/themes
October 2016 - March
2017
Development of second draft
Establishment of Guiding Principles Steering Committee and Expert Group
March 2016 - September
2017
• Regional consultations:
o Asia-Pacific (August 2016, September 2017)
o East Africa (Nairobi, September 2016)
o Southern Africa (August 2017)
o Western Africa + Francophone countries (June – August 2017)
o Latin America (2017)
o Europe (Paris, March 2017; hosted by UNESCO)
 Consultations with thematic groups:
o Geneva stakeholders/DC stakeholders/World Bank/GPE/North America/EU delegation
o CIES (Vancouver March 2016; Atlanta (USA), March 2017)
 National consultations organised by partners:
o Pakistan (May2017; hosted by FOSI-Pakistan)
July - November 2017 Online consultations
Nov. 2017 - Feb 2018 Expert review - Review of second draft / Development of third draft
End first half 2018 Validation at expert meeting
Second half 2018 Launch, dissemination, and advocacy

17. Time to make your insights count!
Moving to groups while remembering-
 Your principles, our principles
 Input is distinct from endorsement
 Priority on concerns over on the spot resolutions
 Still very draft and not for circulation
 Refer to golden rules and tips for feedback. When in
doubt, feel free to ask the reference person

18. The golden rules to define principles
1. Neither too abstract (have to be concrete enough) nor too precise
(have to be universal enough)
2. Keep it as simple as possible, remove all the words that can be
3. Broadly accepted and backed by the law
4. It lays out States’ obligations – not private actors’ obligations
5. Keep it as a technical analysis, not a political declaration
6. This is legal language: it can be dry and grammatically challenging
7. Remain within the scope of the Principles: here, related to State
obligations and private actors – not going too broad