SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON RIGHT TO EDUCATION TO VISIT GERMANY FROM 13 TO 21 FEBRUARY

9 February 2006

Vernor Muñoz, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the right to education, will visit Germany at the invitation of the Government from 13 to 21 February 2006.

During this visit, the Special Rapporteur will consider how Germany endeavours to implement the right to education, the measures taken for its successful realization and the obstacles encountered, both at the national and international levels.

The Special Rapporteur will focus on issues related not only to access to education but also to the quality of education, in particular for migrant children, second generation children, economically and socially disadvantaged children and children with disabilities. He will address particular education challenges in Germany, such as the impact of the federal system on a coherent and uniformed education policy, and will review the ongoing German education reform in light of the result of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report.

The Special Rapporteur will meet with Government officials and with civil society representatives, including non-governmental organizations, education professionals, academics, students, and members of the media. The Special Rapporteur will also have the opportunity to visit schools. He will be travelling to Berlin, Postdam, Bonn and Munich.

The Special Rapporteur will present a report on his mission to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-third session (2007).

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to help States, and others, promote and protect the right to education. For further information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and copies of available reports, please consult the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. ( http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/education/rapporteur/)