Case Study: Discrimination and violation of the right to education – Guatemala

This case study focuses on the violation of indigenous people’s right to education in Guatemala, prepared for the UN Durban Review of 2009.

The Durban Declaration and Program of Action, adopted by consensus at the 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, made key recommendations in the sphere of education: (1) the need to guarantee access and inclusion of all children and adults to a quality education, eliminating intra-school and outside school factors that hinder access, attendance and success in learning experiences; (2) full, precise and objective teaching and communication of the history, culture and contributions of all the different populations; (3) the guarantee of opportunities for indigenous populations to learn in their mother tongue and (4) Human Rights education.

Seven years later, these recommendations remain largely unattended. Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance are still endemic to the education system in many contexts, leading to severe inequalities in access and retention of schooling, and to the perseverance of intra–school processes that directly violate the principles of human rights and dignity.