SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON RIGHT TO EDUCATION TO VISIT CHINA FROM 10 TO 19 SEPTEMBER 2003

8 September 2003


The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to education, Professor Katarina Tomasevski, will visit the People’s Republic of China from 10 to 19 September to analyse the human rights dimension of education in the country.
Her mission follows the analytical approach she has adopted in the form of the so-called "4-A" scheme, whereby the Government is obliged to make education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. China’s accession to the World Trade Organization and its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) have introduced private education, compounding the existing problems of direct charges for education in public schools. Thus, available education is not necessarily accessible, and financial obstacles will constitute a key topic for her mission. Ensuring access to education for migrant and minority children as well as children with disabilities is another important matter, as merely 0.6 per cent of the education budget is allocated for education of people with disabilities.
The contents of education, especially its acceptability, forms the key contribution of human rights to education. The Special Rapporteur’s particular interest is the association between China’s family planning policy and the contents of education. The Special Rapporteur will visit educational institutions at all levels, including schools for juvenile delinquents and universities. Visits to universities will enable her to study the introduction of human rights education and to analyse the adaptation of education to the free market, including phenomena such as graduate unemployment.
Professor Tomasevski will meet officials from the Ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs and Justice and representatives of mass organizations. She will have meetings with international organizations working in China, as well as with Chinese scholars.
The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Professor Tomasevski was appointed in 1998, and her mandate was renewed in 2001.
During her mission, the Special Rapporteur can be reached at the Beijing Hotel, tel. +86-10-65137766.