A review and suggestions for revision

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4. International provisions for Law on Education
Education laws and policies could be either analyzed from the perspective of merely a welfare provision on the 
one hand and as a right on the other. The former focuses on the provisions while the later looks at education 
as an entitlement of citizens. Education is recognized universally as a fundamental human right since the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. As per the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action 
(1993), all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. The Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights in Article 26 proclaims that “everyone has the right to education”. Since then, the right to educa-
tion has been asserted in numerous international normative instruments elaborated by the UN. The internation-
al human rights documents of varying nature, including agreements, charters, protocols, treaties, recommen-
dations, conventions and declarations have provided a normative framework that is instrumental in any review 
of education policies and legal frameworks. The right to education has been elaborated in the UN instruments 
such as International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Convention on the Rights 
of the Child (CRC, 1989), and the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960). The right to 
education has also been enshrined in various treaties that address issues related to specific groups (such as 
women and girls, persons with disabilities, migrants, refugees, indigenous people etc.). Right to education is 
also asserted in numerous regional treaties and national constitutions. 
Why a rights-based approach to the Review of the law on education in Uzbekistan? 
The Government of Uzbeki-
stan has ratified several international treaties and hence have obligations to ensure educational rights of its 
people. Ratification is an initial step towards a government making meaningful changes to their education sys-
tem. In many cases, the ratification of treaty is only used as a guiding principle for enacting national legislation. 
It is in this context that this review of the Law on Education is set in the context of a rights-based approach.
Treaty
Status
Date
The 1960 UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in 
Education 
Ratified
8 December, 1997
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 
Rights (ICESCR)
Ratified
28 September 1995
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
Ratified
28 September 1995
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Ratified
29 June 1994
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination 
against Women
Accessed
19 July 1995
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Signed, but not 
ratified
27 February 2009
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of 
Racial Discrimination
Ratified
1995
ILO’s Minimum Age Convention No.136
Ratified
6 March 2009
ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182
Ratified
24 June 2008
Source: websites related to each of the treaty 

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