Full classes at Kenyan schools. When the Kenyan government made primary education free in 2003, one-and-a-half million extra pupils flocked in. But the schools were not prepared for such an influx. Classes of around a hundred children are no longer an exception; there is a shortage of teachers and teaching material. Nevertheless, the measure is still widely supported. Being able to go to school makes a world of difference to a child’s life. According to the UN’s millennium goals, by 2015 all children should be able to attend primary school. The number of children worldwide that are not allowed to go to school dropped from 96 million in 1999 to 72 million in 2005. The target is coming closer, but progress is slow.

With the decision to make primary education free, Kenya complied with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of a Child: every child has a right to education and in particular to free primary education. This UN convention dates from 1989 and deals with three kinds of rights. Firstly, the right to facilities, education, health care and rehabilitation services. Secondly, the right to protection against abuse, exploitation, neglect, child labour, armed conflicts, human trafficking and slavery. And finally, the right to participate in society. Although almost all countries in the world have signed the treaty, they certainly do not all comply with it. Not always out of unwillingness; sometimes the financial means are just not sufficient. The implementation of the right to education falters partly because families in developing countries often depend on their children’s income. Another problem is the availability of a sufficient number of well-trained teachers.

Human rights have traditionally been interpreted mainly as political rights and liberties. More recently, attention has been focused on social and economic rights. A country like China refuses to allow the West to tackle the political rights restrictions that apply in this country. Instead they point to the substantial social and economic progress which has improved the position of many citizens. Limiting human rights to individual political rights is, in their view, a western bias. A similar issue is that it is unlikely that the UN millennium goals to which government leaders from 189 countries have committed themselves will be achieved by the agreed date of 2015. How hard are these goals, and are they not rights? International pressure groups consider that development goals should be more firmly anchored in the Universal Human Rights.