EMUN 2016
HRC - Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries
(LEDCs)
2016
Human Rights Council –Ensuring
Girl’s Access to Education In Less
Developed Countries (LEDCs)
EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Index
Introduction
3
Definition of Key-Terms
5
General Overview
6
Major Parties Involved and Their Views
8
Timeline of Important Events
9
United Nations Involvement
10
Possible Solutions
12
List of Sources
14
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Forum: Human Rights Council (HRC)
Issue: Ensuring girl’s access to education in less developed countries (LEDCs)
Student Officers: Camila Grigera Naón & Valentina Cappa
Position: Chairs of Human Rights Council, EMUN 2016
Introduction
As the global community has modified its vision on gender rights, there are still
several less economically developed countries that restrict young women’s rights
to education. Their access is denied due to a variety of other problems in their
countries ranging from marginalization, gender inequality, health problems,
cultural identity and disadvantaged backgrounds. A girl’s limited access to
education also originates from the country’s economic standing. Many LEDCs do
not have sufficient financial resources in order to create schools or provide
teachers and materials. Classes are usually oversized and teachers are
improperly trained. Due to these problems, student dropout rates remain high
and education failure is common. Girls’ education is a fundamental right as well
as a step towards other development objectives. Providing young women with an
access to an education will make them conscious of contraceptive methods, they
will be less likely to marry against their will at an early age, their risk of dying at
childbirth will reduce, they will be more likely to send their children to school, as
well as have healthy babies.
Although there has been a growing global awareness on girls’ rights to education
in less economically developed countries, it is still a reoccurring problem and
young women still experience serious disadvantages and exclusion in education
systems across the world.
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Definition of Key-Terms
Less Economically Developed Country (LEDCS)
A country which is claimed to be an LEDC usually has high birth, death and infant
mortality rates as well as a low life expectancy and high illiteracy rates. These can
be attributed to a variety of reasons including poor health care, restricted access to
clean drinking water, widespread diseases, low economic statuses and poor
education.
Third-World Country
The name is usually attributed to those countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and
the Middle East. These countries usually have a high rate of population growth, low
literacy levels, a slow pace of industrialization, very low levels of per capita income,
poor economic growth and impoverished health facilities.
Birth Rate
The number of live births per thousand of the population per year.
Death Rate
The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.
Infant Mortality
The death of a child under the age of one year.
Gender Equality
When access to equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities is unaffected by
gender. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both
women and men are taken into consideration.
Female-Genital Mutilation (FGM)
This custom consists of partially or totally removing the external genitalia of girls and
young women for cultural and/or traditional reasons, causing hemorrhages and
significant if not mortal long-term damage.
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
General Overview
More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759
million adults are illiterate and do not have the necessary awareness to improve both
their living conditions and those of their children. In a 2013 study, it was seen that
approximately 31 million girls of primary school age and 32 million girls of lower
secondary school age were out of school. Most young women living in countries in
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East suffer from this type of gender
inequality. Somalia, Niger, Liberia, Mali, Pakistan, Yemen and Benin among other
countries hold the highest percentage of females between the ages of 7 to 16 that
have never been to school.
In less economically developed countries, women take care of traditional
responsibilities such as looking after the homestead, taking care of their children,
and cooking for their families. These liabilities limit a woman’s capability of seeking
paid employment. This reason plays into other motives for girls’ lower enrolment in
schooling and their increased dropout rates in LEDCs. These include the tendency
of poor families to spend any surplus money on the education of their male children,
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
because in these countries, men are seen as the future income providers for their
families. Also, it is a pre-established expectation that a female will take care of any
domestic or household work. Furthermore, it is common in several cultures that girls
are to marry at a young age especially if they are seen as an economic burden on
their family. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that two-fifths
of all African girls are married before the age of 18. In some countries the proportion
is much higher. Women are also subject to several health challenges, which prevent
them from attending school. In several African countries for example, female-genital
mutilation is a common practice.
School systems in LEDCs are inescapably affected by their circumstances. Many
teachers are unable to properly teach because they have been born and raised in
the same social and economic situations as their students. Several have not
received decent quality education and receive poverty-level wages. There is an
average of 40 students per teacher in LEDCs and classes are usually overcrowded,
making it harder for students to learn efficiently.
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Major Parties Involved and Their Views
The Girls Education Movement (GEM)
The Girls Education Movement is a child-centered program that was launched in
August 2001 in Kampala, Uganda. It consists of groups of children and young
individuals in communities all throughout Africa which are working strategically in
order to bring positive changes in the lives of young African girls. GEM works
towards establishing equal access to education for girls and boys and improving the
quality of school curricula.
The World Bank Group (WBG)
The World Bank Group works with governments and development organizations in
order to resolve issues related to girls’ education as well as school finances. The
WBG also works to provide resources to support those countries working towards
improving these issues.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
The Global Partnership for Education supports 65 developing countries to guarantee
that every child receives a quality basic education, favoring the poorest, most
vulnerable and conflict-affected countries.
Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)
The Forum for African Women Educationalists is a non-governmental organization
located in 33 different African countries. It aims to reduce gender inequality in
African schools and works towards ensuring that African girls and women are
empowered in their communities, receiving a quality education. Predominantly
focused across sub-Saharan Africa, the FAWE works to influence government policy
and generate public awareness on gender equity in education.
Latin American Countries and the Caribbean
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Latin America and the Caribbean have been
greatly improving the education of girls and women, achieving their Millennium
Development Goal. For example, in Uruguay and Jamaica, females’ schooling has
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Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
exceeded that of males for both birth cohorts; and Venezuela has been successful in
significantly reducing the gender gap. However, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, and
Peru
have
still
not
been
able
to
achieve
gender
parity.
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Timeline of Important events/ Documents
Pakistan and Argentina-1947
Both countries were the first ones in Asia and Latin America respectively to
established women’s right to vote.
Zimbabwe- 1957
It was the first country in the Africa, which established women’s right to vote.
Iran -1963
It was the first country in the Middle East, which established women’s right to vote.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)- 1979
It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) -2000
Established by UNICEF.
The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
(DPKO), UN Women and UN Action Against Sexual Violence
in Conflict - 2010
They all launched a tool for stopping the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war.
Handbook for National Action Plan On Violence against
Women-2011
Launched by the United Nations Women, which provides guidelines to help policy
makers and women’s rights advocates create and prosecute effective plans and
policies.
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
UN Involvement
The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)
In 2000, the UNICEF established the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
(UNGEI), a group of organizations, which are dedicated to promoting girls education.
Its primary goal was to assist governments of different countries in fulfilling their
responsibilities towards guaranteeing the right to education and gender equality for
all children. The UNGEI comes up with and promotes strategies that put the needs
of the most disadvantaged individuals, which in this case are girls and women in
relation with education policies. It also works to removed barriers in learning, them
primarily being educational costs.
Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
All
Forms
of
In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the CEDAW. This
convention was put forward and established by the United Nations Commission on
the Status of Women with an objective to encourage women’s rights and to
supervise the situation of women in countries. Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the
convention support women's rights to non-discrimination in education and
employment as well as economic and social activities. Overall, the CEDAW
challenges the numerous forces that have generated and maintained discrimination
based upon sex.
Sustainable Development Goals
Taking into account topics 4 and 5 of the SDGs:
Topic 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all”
4.1
By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary
and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
4.3
By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality
technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Topic 5- “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”
5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
5.5
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for
leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
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EMUN 2016
Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
Possible Solutions
It is crucial that children of any gender, boys and girls alike, receive quality basic
education despite the social, political or economic environment in which they live in.
It is a basic human right and need for individuals to learn and prosper. To resolve the
issue at hand, there are a series of measures and actions that can be taken in order
to reduce the gravity of the matter.
Education is a basic amenity. It is crucial that the governments of developing
countries ensure public funding so that children have access to this social service.
The government also has the obligation to establish public primary and secondary
schools for those parents who do not have the economic means to send their
children to a private school. School materials should be provided. Sufficiently
qualified teachers should also be hired with no lower than a minimum wage
payment. With public funding, more schools can be created so that class sizes are
reduced and children are able to receive more attention from their teachers.
Social protection should be obligatorily provided and maintained in every country,
especially LEDCs. Social Protection is concerned with providing and protecting
individuals who are in a vulnerable state. These may include people who are
unemployed, have a disability or a sickness. Social protection also focuses on
children, women or elderly people in need of economic aid. It aims to aid individuals
by establishing policies that guarantee basic income security, pensions for the
elderly and individuals with inabilities, as well as employment guarantees.
Enacting laws as well as adopting any other legal measure in order to prohibit all
forms of violence (rape, physical and mental abuse) against women will be crucial in
defending women’s rights. The causes and consequences, which originate from
these acts of violence should be recognized so that later on suitable and effective
measures can be considered and taken in order to further prevent such violence.
Services and organizations should also be established which aid and shelter women
who have been subject to abuse or any act of violence or gender discrimination.
Stereotypical or sexist books and syllabuses should be strictly avoided and
prohibited in schools and classrooms. Awareness on human and gender rights in the
school curricula should be incorporated. Education on contraceptive methods as well
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Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
as family planning should be obligatory in any school curricula. The promotion of
female enrolment in schools is also crucial in order to create global consciousness
that boys and girls alike have the basic right to a quality education. Establishing
institutions, which monitor dropout rates will also be beneficiary in regulating the
amount of women who leave primary and/or secondary school.
Many women drop out of school because they marry and get pregnant at a very
young age. No marriage in LEDCs should take place without willing consent from
both man and woman. The minimum age of marriage should be established at not
younger than 18 years old, when an individual has already graduated from
secondary school. Women must also have the right to control their fertility and to
decide whether or not they would like to have children. Despite cultural or traditional
values, women should have the right to decide whether they want to undergo female
genital mutilation as well as if they are willing to use any contraceptive methods
before intercourse. They should be given the option to medically abort especially in
cases of sexual assault or rape. Women also have the right to have family planning
education. Communication programs should be available to women in order to
provide adequate information and education on family planning.
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Human Rights Council
Ensuring Girl’s Access to Education In Less Developed Countries (LEDCs)
List of Sources
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/01/16-africa-learning-watkins
http://www.ungei.org/index.php
http://www.unicef.org/
http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/SAF_girlseducation_gem.pdf
http://www.worldbank.org/
http://www.globalpartnership.org/
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931343.html
http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/womenprotocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf
http://www.humanium.org/en/world/right-to-education/
https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/the-bottom-ten-countries-forfemale-education/
http://www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.fawe.org/about/index.php
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
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http://www.iadb.org/res/publications/pubfiles/pubwp-600.pdf
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