A/HRC/29/30 A. Non-discrimination 57. Discrimination based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status is prohibited in international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2 (2)). Private providers do not respect the prohibited grounds of discrimination and violate fundamental principles of non-discrimination in human rights law: social origin, economic condition, birth or property are the preponderant factors in allowing access to private schools. It is the obligation of States to ensure the right to education without discrimination or exclusion. Privatization in education also has repercussions on girls’ right to education, as families prioritize the education of boys over girls. Any scheme of “vouchers purported to provide economically disadvantaged parents the means to select a private school in fact promotes group differentiation”.26 B. Equality of opportunity in education 58. Privatization widens disparities in access to education. Private providers disregard the fundamental principle of equality of opportunity in education common to almost all international human rights treaties (A/HRC/17/29 and Corr.1). Inequalities in opportunities for education will be exacerbated by the growth of unregulated private providers of education, with economic condition, wealth or property becoming the most important criterion in access to education. 59. States have obligations to ensure that the liberty of providing education set out in article 13 (4) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights does not lead to extreme disparities of educational opportunity for some groups in society. 27 Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 17/3, they should give full effect to the right to education by, inter alia, promoting equality of opportunity in education in accordance with their human rights obligations. C. Social justice and equity 60. Education is instrumental in “promoting development, social justice and other human rights”.28 Privatization stymies the principle of social justice, which is at the core of the global mission of the United Nations to promote development and human dignity. Lowfee private schools “not only constrain social justice in education, favouring access for some over others, but also social justice through education” as their raison d’être is “monetizing access” to education. This aggravates inequality through the structural exclusion of certain groups, entrenching a neoliberal vision of society.29 61. In the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want” (General Assembly resolution 66/288, annex), the General Assembly underlined the importance of the right to quality education and expressed the resolve of the international community to work for a world that is just, 26 27 28 29 10 Macpherson, “Interrogating the private-school ‘promise’”, p. 21. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 on the right to education, para. 30. See Transparency International, Global Corruption Report: Education (Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2013). See also Jacques Hallak and Muriel Poisson, “Corrupt schools, corrupt universities: what can be done?” (International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO Publishing, 2007). Macpherson, “Interrogating the private-school ‘promise’”, p. 296.