A/HRC/23/35 Secretary of Education, 56 the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that the Government has good reason (public welfare) to regulate private education, and there was no undue exercise of power by the Secretary of Education in setting of school curricula, calendars, and examination procedures. 57 D. The rights of minorities, including language rights 54. A large number of cases address the rights of minorities and their language rights. The European Court of Human Rights, for instance, has held that the right to education 58 did not guarantee the right to education in a particular language, or for the State to subsidize education of a particular type. 59 However, article 14 read in conjunction with article 2 of Protocol No. 1 was violated because the legislation prevented children from having access to French-language schools in certain areas solely on the basis of their parents’ residence. 60 55. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that minority language educational rights under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which provides guarantees for French-speaking communities, were considered justiciable. 61 Other rulings by courts in South Africa protect the right to education and language rights. 62 E. Girls and the right to education 56. Women have historically been victims of social injustice and educational deprivation. The majority of those who are deprived of education today are girls and women, whereas they are entitled to education as much as boys. In some case s, they are prevented from attending schools by parents who see no value in educating daughters, or by religious extremists threatening them. Violence against women and girls impairs their right to education. 57. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has called on the States parties “to denounce and punish such acts of violence and to continue to take all necessary action, including the dismantling of patriarchal barriers and entrenched gender stereotypes, to guarantee and to ensure that girls are able to enjoy their basic human right to education in every region of the world.” 63 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities v. Secretary of Education, G.R. No. L-5279 (October 31, 1955), available at http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1955/oct1955/gr_l5279_1955.html, accessed 3 May 2013. See ibid. Under art. 2 of the Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as amended by Protocol No. 11, Paris, 20.III.1952. European Court of Human Rights. Belgian Linguistic Case (No. 2), (1968) 1 EHRR 252. See ibid. Doucet-Boudreau v. Nova Scotia (Minister of Education), [2003] 3 S.C.R. 3, available at http://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2096/index.do, accessed February 23, 2013. Gauteng Provincial Legislature In re: Gauteng School Education Bill of 1995 (CCT39/95) [1996] ZACC 4; 1996 (4) BCLR 537; 1996 (3) SA 165 (4 April 1996). CEDAW Statement "Protection of Girls’ Right to Education" Adopted on 19 October 2012 during the 53rd session, p. 1. 15