Peer-reviewed article
Recognizing Early Childhood Education as a Human Right in International Law
Sandra Fredman, Georgina Donati, Linda Richter, Sara Naomi Naicker, Jere Richard Behrman et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper argues that early childhood care and education (ECCE) should be recognized as part of the international human right to education, even though it is not explicitly mentioned in major human rights treaties. The authors analyzed UN monitoring bodies' conclusions on 152 countries from 2015 to 2020 and found consistent expectations that states provide affordable, accessible, quality, and inclusive ECCE with adequate funding. The paper calls for UN committees to create a unified General Comment on ECCE rights to strengthen state accountability.
Key points
- Early learning opportunities have incontrovertible evidence for shaping long-term development and health
- ECCE is not expressly mentioned in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, or the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Analysis of 264 Concluding Observations by UN monitoring bodies covering 152 countries (2015-2020) shows consistent state obligations for ECCE
- States are expected to provide affordable, accessible, quality, inclusive ECCE with adequate resources
- A unified General Comment on ECCE would improve state accountability and guide delivery
Limitations
This is a legal and policy analysis document, not an empirical study. It does not provide data on actual ECCE outcomes, implementation rates across countries, or evidence of effectiveness of different ECCE models.
Abstract
Abstract There is incontrovertible evidence that early learning opportunities shape long-term development and health. Nevertheless, early childhood care and education (ECCE) is not expressly mentioned as part of the right to education in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This paper argues that the right to education can nevertheless be regarded as including ECCE. We examine the treaties, General Comments, and 264 Concluding Observations by relevant UN monitoring bodies, covering 152 countries from 2015 to 2020, to determine whether the right to ECCE is regarded as part of States’ obligations and the content of the duty. These demonstrate consistently that States must provide affordable, accessible, quality, inclusive ECCE, with adequate resources. We argue that monitoring committees should draw these obligations together in one General Comment, thereby improving States’ accountability and guiding the delivery of ECCE.