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| Gordon Brown in Maputo/David Fish/ActionAid | Nelson Mandela greets GCE campaigners/David Fish/ActionAid | Paul Weinberg / Oxfam / South Africa |
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Past Issues - October 2006 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. OBITUARY FOR KATARINA TOMASEVSKI Katarina Tomasevski, the leading global expert on the right to education, died on Wednesday 4th October. She was best known for her formidable work as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on Education, a position she held from 1998 to 2004. Katarina was born on 8th February 1953 in Yugoslavia. Brought up mostly by her grandparents she studied at the Law School of the University of Zagreb where she excelled, winning the Rector's Prize in 1972, 1973 and 1975 and editing the students' journal Pravnik (Lawyer). From there she moved to the remarkably different environment of Harvard Law School, where she began her fascination with international law, writing her thesis on "Economic Boycotts and International Law". Rather than stay in the West Katarina chose to return to the University of Zagreb for her doctoral thesis on Terrorism and Contemporary International Law. Katarina was an activist lawyer with indefatigable energy. From 1979-1989 she worked with the International Council of Defence for Children International (DCI), coordinating the first international survey of imprisoned children, which encompassed 32 countries in all regions. She also played a key role in preparing background studies and briefing papers to assist the drafting of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. She was one of the first lawyers to work on HIV/AIDS, for example as the Legal Officer of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS (WHO/GPA, Geneva) in the late 1980s and as a leading member of the Global AIDS Policy Coalition with the Harvard School of Public Health in the 1990s. Katarina was always committed to developing the capacity of lawyers across Africa, Asia and Latin America, for example as a leading member of the International Third World Legal Studies Association. Particularly she was committed to promoting the role of women, for example through the Women in the Law Project of the International Human Rights Law Group. She was on the Board of countless human rights organisations, from The Gambia to Malaysia, and on the editorial board of leading journals, such as the Human Rights Law Journal. She was a consultant to agencies ranging from ActionAid to Article 19, from UNICEF to Save the Children and the Overseas Development Institute Teaching human rights was Katarina's great passion. Amongst many other locations she taught at the London School of Economics (LSE), the Centre for Africa Studies of Edinburgh University, the United Nations University (Tokyo), the Institute for Social Studies (the Hague), the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (Serbia), the Inter‑American Human Rights Institute (Costa Rica), the Centre for Human rights at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Most recently she was Professor of International Law and International Relations at the University of Lund teaching and a visiting professor at the law school of the University of Peking. There can be few people who have taught in so many locations with such inexhaustible conviction. It was no surprise when Katarina was appointed as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education in 1998. Her annual reports to the Commission on Human Rights became important landmarks. Her country missions and investigations of alleged human rights violations, challenged governments from the People's Republic of China to the United States of America. Perhaps most famously she challenged the World Bank for its role in the denial of free education (especially for supporting the euphemistically termed "cost-sharing"). The power of the World Bank in setting education policies around the world angered her greatly. She would repeatedly ask the simple but very pointed question. "Why is a bank in charge of education?" In 1999 Katarina set up the Right to Education Project which functions as a public access resource centre and research network dealing with the human rights dimensions of education. This is an immense voluntary effort with a website ( www.right-to-education.org) which has become an indispensable reference point for anyone working on international education. Over the past three years Katarina compiled a remarkable Global Education Report called "Fee or Free" which provides country-by-country evidence on where children have to pay to go to school. This immense undertaking was finally published last month. She classified the countless different types of fees charged for accessing education in each country of the world. All the fees she documented are in direct contradiction to the fundamental right to education that is guaranteed in numerous international treaties and most national constitutions. This work leaves an incredible legacy for activists around the world. Indeed, she was also working on an Activist Guide on the Right to Education with ActionAid and Amnesty International, which will be published next year. Katarina knew for at least a year that she was going to die. She did not tell many people about her disease, not liking to talk about herself and her health. But after three years of struggling with organ failure she decided she has had enough of examination and medication. She did not want to end up as a "patient". Instead, she would keep going. She completed her epic publication last month and remained incredibly active to the end. She was an inspiration to everyone who knew her and will continue to be so for education and human rights activists around the world for many years to come. "The Alliance of Concerned Teachers expressed our deep condolence to the family and friends of Katarina Tomasevski. We came to know her as a speaker in the Education International World Congress. We appreciated her meaningful thoughts and commitment for the quality education of the children of society. Indeed, she is a loss to all of us but her visions will remain alive in the heart and soul of the teachers and the global community." Flora C. Arellano National President, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Philippines "The Brazilian Campaign for the Right to Education mourns profoundly with such sad fact. Katarina visited us in Brazil in January 2003 and it was a great opportunity to know her personally and her wonderful and tirelles work for the right to education all over the world." Iracema Nascimento, Brazilian Campaign for the Right to Education She will be deeply missed. Her work will continue to have relevancy for many years to come. Jill Christianson International Relations, National Education Association, USA 13 October 2006 WORLD TEACHERS DAY - 5th OCTOBER Teachers are the lifeblood of any education system – a school place, books and classrooms are useless without a teacher. On World Teachers Day, 5 th October, If you can Read this, Thank a Teacher. GCE congratulates member organization, Education International, for all the hard work they have done for teachers and their rights over the years, and for their promotion of World Teachers' Day: www.ei-ie.org/worldteachersday. Many GCE coalitions, comprised of teacher unions and other civil society organisations, will celebrate and draw attention to the vital role that teachers play. We thank all teachers for their hard work in school as for their campaigning work to ensure Education for All. World Teachers' Day is particularly pertinent in 2006 following an active campaigning year on the theme "Every Child Needs a Teacher". Civil society in over 120 countries have engaged with their governments demanding more is done so that every child has a good teacher in a class no bigger than 40. And as a result of their work there have been successes: Peru and Sudan's education budgets were increased, Kenyan teachers received pay rises and the UK increased aid to education. Still, if every child is to receive a good quality education, we need 18 million more teachers by 2015. Forty years ago UNESCO/ILO agreed the recommendation of the status of teachers. Yet millions of teachers today are facing low wages, poor living conditions, a lack of respect and classes sizes exceeding 100. GCE continues to support Education International's demand for the realisation of the UNESCO/ILO recommendations, so that everyone can have the quality education promised to them. To the 29 million teachers in class today – thank you for your dedication, professionalism and support for Education for All. 5 October 2006 Click to view Past
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