6.

Write Major Statement Related

6.1 UNCRPD (2006)

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional
Protocol (A/RES/61/106) was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March
2007. There were 82 signatories to the Convention, 44 signatories to the Optional
Protocol, and 1 ratification of the Convention. This is the highest number of
signatories in history to a UN Convention on its opening day. It is the first
comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and is the first human
rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations.
The Convention entered into force on 3 May 2008.
The Convention follows decades of work by the United Nations to
change attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It takes to a new
height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as “objects”  of
charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with
disabilities as “subjects” with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and
making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well
as being active members of society.

The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social

development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with
disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy
all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all
categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where
adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise
their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection
of rights must be reinforced.

The Convention was negotiated during eight sessions of an Ad Hoc Committee of

the General Assembly from 2002 to 2006, making it  the fastest negotiated human
rights treaty

6.2 UDHR (1948)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), foundational document of

international human rights law. It has been referred to as humanity’s Magna
Carta by Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the United Nations (UN) Commission on
Human Rights that was responsible for the drafting of the document. After minor
changes it was adopted unanimously—though with abstentions from the
Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSR, and Yugoslavia—by the UN
General Assembly on December 10, 1948 (now celebrated annually as Human
Rights Day), as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations.” The French jurist René Cassin was originally recognized as the principal
author of the UDHR. It is now well established, however, that, although no
individual can claim ownership of this document, John Humphrey, a Canadian
professor of law and the UN Secretariat’s Human Rights Director, authored its
first draft. Also instrumental in the drafting of the UDHR were Roosevelt; Chang
Peng-chun, a Chinese playwright, philosopher, and diplomat; and Charles Habib
Malik, a Lebanese philosopher and diplomat.

Humphrey’s main contribution lay in producing the very inclusive first draft of the
declaration. Cassin was a key player in the deliberations held throughout the
commission’s three sessions as well as those of the commission’s drafting
subsidiary. At a time of increasing East-West tensions, Roosevelt used her
enormous prestige and credibility with both superpowers to steer the drafting
process toward its successful completion. Chang excelled in forging compromises
when the committee seemed incapable on the verge of an impasse. Malik, whose
philosophy was firmly rooted in natural law, was a major force in the debates
surrounding key provisions and played a critical role in elucidating and refining
basic conceptual issues.

The massive and systematic human rights abuses committed during World War II,
including the Nazi genocide of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and other groups, spurred
the development of an international human rights instrument. In particular, the
inclusion of crimes against humanity in the Charter of the International Military
Tribunal, which paved the way for the subsequent Nürnberg trials, signaled the
need to hold the perpetrators of atrocities internationally accountable for their
actions irrespective of any domestic provisions to the contrary or the silence of
domestic laws. At the same time, the drafters of the UN Charter sought to
highlight the interrelationship between war prevention and fundamental human
rights. Two key ethical considerations underscored the main tenets of the UDHR:
a commitment to the inherent dignity of every human being and a commitment
to nondiscrimination.

The declaration’s drafting process was marked by a series of debates on a range

of issues, including the meaning of human dignity, the importance of contextual
factors (especially cultural) in the determination of the content and range of
rights, the relationship of the individual to the state and to society, the potential
challenges to the sovereign prerogatives of member states, the connection
between rights and responsibilities, and the role of spiritual values in individual
and societal welfare. The onset of the Cold War between the United States and
the Soviet Union and the resulting deterioration of the global political climate led
to sharp ideological exchanges on comparative assessments of the human rights
situations in the Soviet-bloc countries and in countries under colonial rule. The
disagreements underlying these exchanges eventually resulted in the
abandonment of a plan for an international bill of rights, though they did not
derail efforts to develop a nonbinding human rights declaration.

The UDHR comprises 30 articles that contain a comprehensive listing of key civil,
political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Articles 3 through 21 outline civil
and political rights, which include the right against torture, the right to an
effective remedy for human rights violations, and the right to take part in
government. Articles 22 through 27 detail economic, social, and cultural rights,
such as the right to work, the right to form and to join trade unions, and the right
to participate freely in the cultural life of the community. The latter right relates
to everyone’s entitlement to be directly involved in and appreciative of the arts,
and it is clearly linked to the full development of one’s own personality (which, in
accordance with article 26, constitutes one of the goals of the right to education).
Because of the ideological fissures caused by the Cold War and the concomitant
failure to develop a legally binding international human rights instrument, it
became common to view civil and political rights independently of economic,
social, and cultural rights, though this is a misinterpretation of both the letter and
the spirit of the document. For example, it is impossible for a society to fulfill its
commitment to the right to education (Article 26) without taking seriously its
commitment to the right to seek, receive, and impart information (Article 19).
Likewise, it is difficult to envisage the realization of the right to form and to join
trade unions (Article 23) without a commensurate realization of the right to
peaceful assembly and association (Article 20). Yet, these obvious linkages were
obscured by the selective use of human rights norms by the main adversaries in
the Cold War. The selectivity served to highlight what each side considered as its
respective strength vis-à-vis the other: the terrain of civil and political rights for
the Western bloc and the terrain of economic, social, and cultural rights for the
Eastern bloc.

The indivisibility of human rights in Article 28—which many consider the most
forward-looking article of the UDHR, though it has been one of the least-studied
—links all the enumerated rights and freedoms by entitling everyone to “a social
and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration can be fully realized.” By pointing to a global order different from that
found in the contemporary world, this article is indicative, more than any other in
the declaration, that the protection of human rights in its totality could transform
the world and that such a future global order would incorporate the norms found
in the UDHR. Ostensibly, the UDHR’s provisions highlight the interrelated and
interdependent nature of different categories of human rights as well as the need
for global cooperation and assistance to realize them.

The document’s nonbinding status was initially perceived as one of its major
weaknesses. Authoritarian states, which usually sought to protect themselves
against what they considered interference in their internal affairs, approved of
this feature of the declaration, and even some democratic countries initially
worried about the potentially intrusive nature of the obligations that a legally
binding document would impose. Some observers have argued, however, that its
nonbinding status is one of the UDHR’s major advantages. Its inherent flexibility
has offered ample room for new strategies to promote human rights and has
allowed it to serve as a springboard for the development of numerous legislative
initiatives in international human rights law, including the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, both of which were adopted in 1966. In addition, the UDHR
has been reaffirmed in numerous resolutions passed by organs and agencies of
the UN, and many countries have incorporated it into their national constitutions.
These developments have led many analysts to conclude that, despite its
nonbinding status, its provisions have achieved a juridical status akin to that of
norms of customary international law.

6.3 UNCRC (1989)

The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) was adopted in
1989. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. This is in itself
an acknowledgement of the importance of children’s rights. The UNCRC embodies
the idea that every child should be recognized, respected and protected as a
rights holder and as a unique and valuable human being. It applies to all persons
under the age of 18.

Since the adoption of the UNCRC, children’s lives have been transformed in many
areas. Digital technologies have played an important part in that transformation.
This was recognized in 2021 by the United Nations Committee on the rights of the
child in its General comment No. 25 on the rights of the child in the digital
environment.

Children rely on digital technologies for:

 Communicating with friends and family

 Playing
 Learning
 Expressing themselves and
 Exploring their identity and personality.

The UNCRC supports children in such activities by attributing them a wide range
of rights and freedoms.

Many, if not all, of these rights are affected – positively and sometimes negatively
by the use of online services. For example, the collection and processing of
children’s personal data by online services may help to personalize and enrich
educational resources (right to education) and keep them safe (right to protection
from violence). However, it can also result in discriminatory decisions (non-
discrimination) and interfere with their private life (right to privacy).

The UNCRC addresses the State parties who have signed and ratified the
Convention. This means that the government of each State needs to respect and
guarantee the rights that are listed to each child by taking a wide range of
measures. The UN Committee on the rights of the child General comment No. 16
recognises “that duties and responsibilities to respect the rights of children
extend in practice beyond the State and State-controlled services and institutions
and apply to private actors and business enterprises.”

States should ensure that businesses, such as providers of online services, take up
their responsibility to:

 respect children’s rights; and

 prevent and remedy abuse of these rights in the digital environment.

The ICO was obliged to take the UNCRC into account when developing the
Children’s code. It provides the framework for articulating and assessing how UK
GDPR principles should be interpreted in the context of online services’ use of
children’s data.

What are the key principles at the centre of the UNCRC?

There are four central principles that underpin the implementation of all the
rights in the UNCRC:

 non-discrimination: the rights of all children should be ensured without

discrimination of any kind;
 the best interests of the child: whenever decisions or actions are taken
that affect children, the bests interests of the child must be a primary
consideration;
 right to life and development of the child: all children should be enabled to
develop in an optimal way: physically, mentally, spiritually, morally, and
socially; and
  Right to be heard: children should be able to express their views freely in
all matters affecting them, to participate in all decision-making processes
related to their lives, and to exert influence over such decisions in
accordance with their age and maturity.

Overall, the purpose of determining and assessing the best interests of the child is
to ensure the full and effective enjoyment of all rights acknowledged by the
UNCRC and the holistic development of the child. According to the Committee on
the rights of the child, the concept of the best interests is dynamic and has three
elements:

A substantive right: the child’s best interests must be assessed and taken as a
primary consideration when decisions or actions are taken that affect children;

A fundamental interpretative legal principle: if a legal provision is open to more

than one interpretation, the interpretation which most effectively serves the
child’s best interests should be chosen; and

A rule of procedure: the decision-making process must contain an evaluation of

the possible impact (positive or negative) of the decision on the child or children
concerned.

6.4 EFA (1990)

Education for All (EFA) is an international initiative first launched in 1990 to bring
the benefits of education to “every citizen in every society.”

Education For All : The Purpose

Article I – Meeting Basic Learning Needs

1 . Every person – child, youth and adult – shall be able to benefit from
educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs.
These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral
expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such
as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to
survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate
fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed
decisions, and to continue learning. The scope of basic learning needs and how
they should be met varies with individual countries and cultures, and inevitably,
changes with the passage of time.
2 . The satisfaction of these needs empowers individuals in any society and
confers upon them a responsibility to respect and build upon their collective
cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage, to promote the education of others, to
further the cause of social justice, to achieve environmental protection, to be
tolerant towards social, political and religious systems which differ from their
own, ensuring that commonly accepted humanistic values and human rights are
upheld, and to work for international peace and solidarity in an interdependent
world.
3 . Another and no less fundamental aim of educational development is the
transmission and enrichment of common cultural and moral values. It is in these
values that the individual and society find their identity and worth.
4 . Basic education is more than an end in itself. It is the foundation for lifelong
learning and human development on which countries may build, systematically,
further levels and types of education and training.
Education For All : An Expanded Vision And A Renewed Commitment

Article Ii – Shaping The Vision

1 . To serve the basic learning needs of all requires more than a recommitment to
basic education as it now exists. What is needed is an “expanded vision” that
surpasses present resource levels, institutional structures, curricula, and
conventional delivery systems while building on the best in current practices. New
possibilities exist today which result from the convergence of the increase in
information and the unprecedented capacity to communicate. We must seize
them with creativity and a determination for increased effectiveness.
2 . As elaborated in Articles III-VII, the expanded vision encompasses:
• Universalizing access and promoting equity;
• Focussing on learning;
• Broadening the means and scope of basic education;
• Enhancing the environment for learning;
• Strengthening partnerships.
3 . The realization of an enormous potential for human progress and
empowerment is contingent upon whether people can be enabled to acquire the
education and the start needed to tap into the ever- expanding pool of relevant
knowledge and the new means for sharing this knowledge.
Article 3 • Universalizing Access And Promoting Equity

1 . Basic education should be provided to all children, youth and adults. To this
end, basic education services of quality should be expanded and consistent
measures must be taken to reduce disparities.
2 . For basic education to be equitable, all children, youth and adults must be
given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning.
3 . The most urgent priority is to ensure access to, and improve the quality of,
education for girls and women, and to remove every obstacle that hampers their
active participation. All gender stereotyping in education should be eliminated.
4 . An active commitment must be made to removing educational disparities.
Underserved groups: the poor; street and working children; rural and remote
populations; nomads and migrant workers; indigenous peoples; ethnic, racial, and
linguistic minorities; refugees; those displaced by war; and people under
occupation, should not suffer any discrimination in access to learning
opportunities.
5 . The learning needs of the disabled demand special attention. Steps need to be
taken to provide equal access to education to every category of disabled persons
as an integral part of the education system.
Article 4 • Focussing On Learning

Whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into

meaningful development – for an individual or for society – depends ultimately on
whether people actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether
they incorporate useful knowledge, reasoning ability, skills, and values. The focus
of basic education must, therefore, be on actual learning acquisition and
outcome, rather than exclusively upon enrolment, continued participation in
organized programmes and completion of certification requirements. Active and
participatory approaches are particularly valuable in assuring learning acquisition
and allowing learners to reach their fullest potential. It is, therefore, necessary to
define acceptable levels of learning acquisition for educational programmes and
to improve and apply systems of assessing learning achievement.
Article 5 • Broadening The Means And Scope Of Basic Education

The diversity, complexity, and changing nature of basic learning needs of children,
youth and adults necessitates broadening and constantly redefining the scope of
basic education to include the following components:
• Learning begins at birth. This calls for early childhood care and initial education.
These can be provided through World Declaration on Education for All 5
arrangements involving families, communities, or institutional programmes, as
appropriate.
• The main delivery system for the basic education of children outside the family
is primary schooling. Primary education must be universal, ensure that the basic
learning needs of all children are satisfied, and take into account the culture,
needs, and opportunities of the community. Supplementary alternative
programmes can help meet the basic learning needs of children with limited or no
access to formal schooling, provided that they share the same standards of
learning applied to schools, and are adequately supported.
• The basic learning needs of youth and adults are diverse and should be met
through a variety of delivery systems. Literacy programmes are indispensable
because literacy is a necessary skill in itself and the foundation of other life skills.
Literacy in the mother-tongue strengthens cultural identity and heritage. Other
needs can be served by: skills training, apprenticeships, and formal and non-
formal education programmes in health, nutrition, nutrition, population,
agricultural techniques, the environment, science, technology, family life,
including fertility awareness, and other societal issues.
• All available instruments and channels of information, communications, and
social action could be used to help convey essential knowledge and inform and
educate people on social issues. In addition to the traditional means, libraries,
television, radio and other media can be mobilized to realize their potential
towards meeting basic education needs of all.
These components should constitute an integrated system – complementary,
mutually reinforcing, and of comparable standards, and they should contribute to
creating and developing possibilities for lifelong learning.
Article 6 • Enhancing The Environment For Learning

Learning does not take place in isolation. Societies, therefore, must ensure that all
learners receive the nutrition, health care, and general physical and emotional
support they need in order to participate actively in and benefit from their
education. Knowledge and skills that will enhance the learning environment of
children should be integrated into community learning programmes for adults.
The education of children and their parents or other caretakers is mutually
supportive and this interaction should be used to create, for all, a learning
environment of vibrancy and warmth.
Article 7 • Strengthening Partnerships

National, regional, and local educational authorities have a unique obligation to

provide basic education for all, but they cannot be expected to supply every
human, financial or organizational requirement for this task. New and revitalized
partnerships at all levels will be necessary: partnerships among all sub-sectors and
forms of education, recognizing the special role of teachers and that of
administrators and other educational personnel; partnerships between education
and other government departments, including planning, finance, labour,
communications, and other social sectors; partnerships between government and
non-governmental organizations, the private sector, local communities , religious
groups , and families. The recognition of the vital role of both families and
teachers is particularly important. In this context, the terms and conditions of
service of teachers and their status, which constitute a determining factor in the
implementation of education for all, must be urgently improved in all countries in
line with the joint ILO/ UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of
Teachers (1966). Genuine partnerships contribute to the planning, implementing,
managing and evaluating of basic education programmes. When we speak of “an
expanded vision and a renewed commitment”, partnerships are at the heart of it.
Education For All: The Requirements

Article 8 – Developing A Supportive Policy Context

1. Supportive policies in the social, cultural, and economic sectors are required in
order to realize the full provision and utitlization of basic education for individual
and societal improvement. The provision of basic education for all depends on
political commitment and political will backed by appropriate fiscal measures and
reinforced by educational policy reforms and institutional strengthening. Suitable
economic, trade, labour, employment and health policies will enhance learners’
incentives and contributions to societal development.
2. Societies should also insure a strong intellectual and scientific environment for
basic education. This implies improving higher education and developing scientific
research. Close contact with contemporary technological and scientific knowledge
should be possible at every level of education.
Article 9 • Mobilizing Resources

1 . If the basic learning needs of all are to be met through a much broader scope
of action than in the past, it will be essential to mobilize existing and new financial
and human resources, public, private and voluntary. All of society has a
contribution to make, recognizing that time, energy and funding directed to basic
education are perhaps the most profound investment in people and in the future
of a country which can be made.
2. Enlarged public-sector support means drawing on the resources of all the
government agencies responsible for human development, through increased
absolute and proportional allocations to basic education services with the clear
recognition of competing claims on national resources of which education is an
important one, but not the only one. Serious attention to improving the efficiency
of existing educational resources and programmes will not only produce more, it
can also be expected to attract new resources. The urgent task of meeting basic
learning needs may require are allocation between sectors, as, for example, a
transfer from military to educational expenditure. Above all, special protection for
basic education will be required in countries undergoing structural adjustment
and facing severe external debt burdens. Today, more than ever, education must
be seen as a fundamental dimension of any social, cultural, and economic design.
Article 10 • Strengthening International Solidarity

1. Meeting basic learning needs constitutes a common and universal human

responsibility. It requires international solidarity and equitable and fair economic
relations in order to redress existing economic dis- parities. All nations have
valuable knowledge and experiences to share for designing effective educational
policies and programmes.
2. Substantial and long-term increases in resources for basic education will be
needed. The world community, including intergovernmental agencies and
institutions, has an urgent responsibility to alleviate the constraints that prevent
some countries from achieving the goal of education for all. It will mean the
adoption of measures that augment the national budgets of the poorest countries
or serve to relieve heavy debt burdens. Creditors and debtors must seek
innovative and equitable formulae to resolve these burdens, since the capacity of
many developing countries to respond effectively to education and other basic
needs will be greatly helped by finding solutions to the debt problem.
3. Basic learning needs of adults and children must be addressed wherever they
exist. Least developed and low-income countries have special needs which
require priority in international support for basic education in the 1990s.
4. All nations must also work together to resolve conflicts and strife, to end
military occupations, and to settle displaced populations, or to facilitate their
return to their countries of origin, and ensure that their basic learning needs are
met. Only a stable and peaceful environment can create the conditions in which
every human being, child and adult alike, may benefit from the goals of this
Declaration.
We, the participants in the World Conference on Education for All, reaffirm the
right of all people to education. This is the foundation of our determination, singly
and together, to ensure education for all.
We commit ourselves to act cooperatively through our own spheres of
responsibility, taking all necessary steps to achieve the goals of education for all.
Together we call on governments, concerned organizations and individuals to join
in this urgent undertaking.
The basic learning needs of all can and must be met. There can be no more
meaningful way to begin the International Literacy Year, to move forward the
goals of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-92), the World
Decade for Cultural Development (1988-97), the Fourth United Nations
Development Decade (1991-2000), of the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women and the Forward Looking Strategies for the
Advancement of Women, and of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There
has never been a more propitious time to commit ourselves to providing basic
learning opportunities for all the people of the world.
We adopt, therefore, this World Declaration on Education for All: Meeting Basic
Learning needs and agree on the Framework for action to Meet Basic Learning
Needs, to achieve the goals set forth in this Declaration.
6.5 Salamanca (1994)

Adopted by the World Conference on Special Needs Education:

Access and Quality Salamanca, Spain, 7-10 June 1994

More than 300 participants representing 92 governments and 25 international

organizations met in Salamanca, Spain in June 1994 to further the aim of
Education for All by considering what basic policy changes are needed to promote
inclusive education, so that schools can serve all children, particularly those with
special educational needs.

Organized by the Government of Spain and UNESCO, the Conference adopted the
Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs
Education and a Framework for Action.

These two documents are important tools for efforts to make sure schools work
better and to fulfill the principle of Education for All. They are printed in a single
publication published by UNESCO. Get hold of a copy from the UNESCO office in
your country or from the address at the bottom of this page. When you are
familiar with its contents, use the two documents to lobby your government for
improvements in the education of disabled children and for inclusive education
policies.

The Salamanca Statement says that:

 every child has a basic right to education

 every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs

 education services should take into account these diverse characteristics

and needs
 those with special educational needs must have access to regular schools

 regular schools with an inclusive ethos are the most effective way to
combat discriminatory attitudes, create welcoming and inclusive
communities and achieve education for all

 such schools provide effective education to the majority of children,

improve efficiency and cost- effectiveness.

 The Salamanca Statement asks governments to:

 give the highest priority to making education systems inclusive

 adopt the principle of inclusive education as a matter of law or policy

 develop demonstration projects

 encourage exchanges with countries which have experience of inclusion

 set up ways to plan, monitor and evaluate educational provision for

children and adults

 encourage and make easy the participation of parents and organizations of

disabled people

 invest in early identification and intervention strategies

 invest in the vocational aspects of inclusive education

 make sure there are adequate teacher education programs