Implementing Universal Education as Human Right and as a Millennium Development Goal: Diverging or Converging Approaches?

Abstract

The present thesis was directed to understand the conceptual and operational implications of approaching the objective of universal education as a human right and as a MDG in the context of development activities. The two international movements, human rights and MDGs, were rhetorically linked through the Millennium Declaration which committed governments to respect and fully uphold the UDHR and to strengthen the capacity of all countries to implement human rights. The Declaration created high expectations for human rights defenders who considered the process of achieving the MDGs as an opportunity to finally take a step forward in proving the relevance of human rights to development challenges. But the fact that the MDGs reflected points of the human rights agenda, as for example education, was not enough to make the two approaches converging in the process of achieving their objectives and goals.A HRBAD differs sharply from the MDG approach. The main difference rests in the HRBAD’s move away from the charity model, basic needs provided to communities, towards acceptance of obligations and mutual responsibility.