Preface This is the third publication in the series of Right to Education Primers, which is devoted to elucidating key dimensions of the right to education, the respect of all human rights in education, as well as enhancing human rights through education. Primer No. 1, entitled Removing Obstacles on the Road to the Right to Education, has had as the point of departure the need to dismantle prevalent misconceptions which impede effective recognition of the right to education. Primer No. 2 has addressed its cardinal requirement, ensuring free and compulsory education for all, and highlighted the gap between this minimal global human rights norm and reality. It has pointed out that these minimal requirements are not yet in place in at least 58 countries. This publication summarizes governmental human rights obligations in education, structured into a simple 4-A scheme – making education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Primer No. 4 follows and is devoted to the orientation, contents and methods of education; it is entitled Human Rights in Education as Prerequisite for Human Rights Education. The importance of linking governmental human rights obligations with global development finance strategies – encompassing aid and debt relief – is addressed in Primer No. 5. It is entitled Is the World Bank Moving towards the Right to Education? It argues that human rights obligations are both individual and collective hence the right to education should be – but is not – recognized in global economic, fiscal, or education strategies. The multitude of issues which have to be described and analyzed is being addressed step-by-step hence five more Right to Education Primers are planned for the year 2001. This series of publications complements my work within the United Nations as the Special Rapporteur on the right to education of the Commission on Human Rights. The Commission has recently started dealing with economic, social and cultural rights in earnest and this area is not, as yet, widely known. These publications aim to facilitate outreach for the right to education by presenting the essential facets of the process whereby human rights can and should be mainstreamed in education. This entails the full recognition of the right to education, safeguards for human rights and fundamental freedoms in education, and the adaptation of schooling to enhancing human rights through education. The publications are part of the emerging public access resource centre on the right to education at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Lund University. It is being developed to broaden interest for the right to education and to increase knowledge about it by making the essential material available in a systematic manner, free of charge. Alongside publications, this resource centre includes background information needed to map out the international and domestic legal frameworks of the right to education. This encompasses excerpts from the relevant international treaties which guarantee the right to education, information on their ratifications and reservations which delineate international legal commitments for each country, constitutional guarantees of the right to education, information on international and domestic institutions which provide remedy for human rights violations within education, important court cases and decisions of national human rights commissions concerning the right to education and human rights in education. This information will be accessible at www.right-to- Right to Education Primers No. 3 5