A/HRC/23/35 18. The State obligations for the right to education must be understood in terms of the right to quality education, as the Special Rapporteur emphasized in his thematic report (2012) to the Human Rights Council. 10 These obligations also make State responsibility to provide necessary resources for its realization, including financing of education, as the Special Rapporteur has underlined in his report to the General Assembly. 11 19. Ensuring enjoyment of the right to education without discrimi nation or exclusion is of paramount importance. States have immediate obligations in relation to the right to education, such as the “guarantee” that the right “will be exercised without discrimination of any kind”. 12 20. State obligations regarding the right to education 13 have been interpreted under international human rights law, establishing the right as justiciable. Available literature sheds light on the importance of identifying “justiciable components” of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to education, and their enforcement at the international level, along with the obligations of States to protect, respect and fulfil them. 14 Indeed, the courts have dealt with educational issues brought before them, and a number of key dimensions of the right to education have been subject to judicial or quasi-judicial review. The right to education has been considered to be fully justiciable in many jurisdictions. 15 C. Domestic legal obligations for the right to education 21. States parties to international human rights treaties have legal obligations to give effect to individual treaties in their domestic legal order. 16 Constitutions and laws should provide for the right to education in line with State obligations under these. 17 When the established right forms part of a convention that is properly ratified or incorporated into a State’s internal order, people can use every available legal means to secure compliance by recourse to law courts. Convention rights should be made directly invocable in the courts and applied by national authorities, and the convention should prevail where there is a conflict with domestic legislation or common practice. 18 “In case of any conflict between national legislation and treaties, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 A/HRC/20/21, 2 May 2012. The right to education: Note by the Secretary-General, A/66/269, 5 August 2011. General Comment 13 on the right to education (article 13 of the Covenant), E/C.12/1999/10, 2, December 1999, para. 43. Klaus Dieter Beiter, “The Protection of the Right to Education by the International Law”, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2005. Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, “A justiciabilidade dos direitos economicos, sociais e culturais no plano internacional” in Ensayos en Honor a Fernando Volio Jiménez, 1997, Brasilia pp. 214-215. Fons Coomans, “Justiciability of the Right to Education”, Erasmus Law Review, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 427-443, 2009. Recommendations or declarations constitute soft law, and do not have binding force. They have moral force and express political commitment. Member States adopting them are expected to take action for giving them follow up in policies or develop national legislation. The guidelines for preparation of reports by States to the human rights treaty bodies require that these reports should show how the right to education as provided for under the international human rights conventions is reflected in the constitution and legislation in a country. General Comment No. 5 (2003) “General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child” CRC/GC/2003/5, 27 November 2003. Where a State delegates powers to legislate to federated regional or territorial governments, it must also require these subsidiary 7

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