The Weight of Special Rapporteurs

Special Rapporteur’s impact is distinguished at various levels and via different actors, such as through recommended national policies being implemented, or the international community coming together to create a space for marginalized groups to access representation and gather data and other resources. On the topic of education, the special rapporteur on the right to education, though it was the mandate most explicitly detailed and explored in this research, is not the only one impacting children’s access to quality education world-wide.

For example, the special rapporteurs for the rights of indigenous peoples have affected the perception and interest of the United Nations through OHCHR with the development of programs, like the ‘Andean Project’ in 2006 that sought to address the issues and barriers of States Parties to implementing SR Rodolfo Stavenhagen’s recommendations in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia.²⁵¹ The impact can also be seen at the national level. The SR conducted a country visit to Mexico in 2004 to evaluate the conditions of indigenous peoples and assess the areas that required heightened government involvement in pursuit of protecting and ensuring indigenous peoples’ rights and access to justice. SR’s research and mandate became the focal point of the a nation-wide campaign to increase awareness of the mandate itself and importance of the implementation of the recommendations by the Citizen Observatory of Indigenous Peoples, established by the Mexican Academy of Human Rights. ²⁵² Alongside this,

251 Stavenhagen, Peasants, Culture and Indigenous Peoples, 143-144.

252 Ibid., 147.

CEUeTDCollection

73

The Ministry of Public Education has recently expanded bilingual secondary education, already provided in preschool and primary school, through a special course on indigenous peoples taught in several indigenous languages, and a number of

‘intercultural high schools’ and ‘communitarian high schools’, with adapted curricula and teaching in indigenous languages, have been created in areas of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco.²⁵³

The SR’s on indigenous peoples rights was a huge motivator and catalyst institutionalizing

“bilingual intercultural education” in Mexico, something that as Chapter 2 recognizes, is one of the most ideal ways to build communities, collaboration, development, provide culturally relevant education and afford children their right to quality education.²⁵⁴

While the SR is one individual who puts forth the recommendations, they are not possible without the assistance and cooperation from the international community, but most importantly from the host country’s willingness to host the SR and the contributions and communications with various actors including civil society members, and the local communities. This initiative was taken by civil society in the country, also a very important actor in moving towards inclusiveness, respect for human rights, and non-discrimination. Host States ideally should take the SR’s recommendations and observations seriously, because they give an expert’s opinion on their standing versus international human rights recognized standards, as their individual mandates establish.²⁵⁵ Gaining this unique perspective on its own country’s progress is a privilege; as it is extremely valuable for progressiveness coming closer to the fulfillment of said human rights treaties. One of the goals of SR’s mandate is to increase capacity building within the country by offering ways to strengthen the institutions, and have a “more direct impact on legal, social and

253 Stavenhagen, Peasants, Culture and Indigenous Peoples, 156.

254 Ibid.

255 Ibid.

CEUeTDCollection

74

political dynamics at the national level in relation to the recognition and protection of the rights.”

256

Special Rapporteurs’ reports are linked to amazing progress and national attention to marginalized groups’ needs as the previous quote highlights. Arguably, the recommendations and observations, while unique to location, space, and time, have the potential to influence nations around the world, specifically if they have similar demographics and struggles. Peru has not been host to neither the SR on education nor the SR on indigenous peoples rights; however, it could, without a doubt benefit from participating in conversations and needs assessment testing on bilingual intercultural education systems, for example. However, at the time of the Toledo administration in Peru, one of the two main goals of the administration was to fight poverty through education and to “reinstitute a bilingual education” system already beginning in 2001.²⁵⁷

Worth reiterating from Chapter 1 is that SRs can produce both country-specific and thematic mandates. So, while Peru may not have been an official host to a SR in recent years, it has been at one point or another been a focal point of the experts’ research. The Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights play an important role in this throughout the cases brought to them submitted by individuals seeking redress. Experts warn that the impact of SR reports and official UN documents “cannot [be] evaluated in terms of the implementation of the specific recommendations.”²⁵⁸ Hence, overestimating the positive impact of these reports may discredit the ongoing debates and policy discussions already occurring at the host country.²⁵⁹

Next, the country visit to Mexico by former Special Rapporteur on the right to education Vernor Muñoz is considered.

256 Ibid., 158.

257 Sweeney, “Peru’s Gentle Revolutionary,” 24.

258 Stavenhagen, Peasants, Culture and Indigenous Peoples, 158.

259 Ibid.

CEUeTDCollection

75