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unemployed youth, the children of migrant workers, refugees, persons with
disabilities and other disadvantaged groups”. 25
27. Other international human rights treaties further emphasize the obligation to
promote technical and vocational education and training. States have obligations to
promote equal opportunities for women and men in education, training and lifelong
learning under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. As outlined by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, human rights-based technical and vocational education and training
also implies that in tackling tacit discrimination owing to obsolete traditional gender
roles, women and girls should be encouraged to choose non-traditional fields of
education and careers, such as intensive technical and vocational education and
training in traditionally male-dominated areas. That could contribute to eliminating
barriers and facilitating professional reinsertion of girls who dropped out of
school. 26 States have the obligation to elaborate policies aimed at promoting the
access of girls and women to technical and vocational education and training, 27 with
proactive measures, including temporary special measures, to encourage and
facilitate their participation and to contribute to the elimination of discrimination. 28
28. The Convention of the Rights of the Child establishes, in article 28 (b), that
States shall “encourage the development of different forms of secondary education,
including general and vocational education”. The Committee on the Rights of the
Child has stressed the importance of providing vocational training at the end of
compulsory education at the age of 12. 29 It has also underlined the need to ensure
the availability of vocational training opportunities for all children and
adolescents 30 on an equal basis for boys and girls, with priority given to children
from vulnerable groups and children who dropped out of (primary or secondary) 31
school. 32 The Committee has put focus on those children who “left school without
certificates, enabling them to acquire competencies and skills in order to enhance
their work opportunities”. 33
B.
Other internationally agreed norms
29. Other international instruments offer a more detailed framework for the
provision of technical and vocational education and training and the responsibility
of States in this context. As already mentioned, a normative framework for technical
and vocational education and training is laid down by the UNESCO Convention on
Technical and Vocational Education. Technical and vocational education and
training is also recognized as a right in a number of instruments adopted by the
International Labour Organization. The most relevant in this regard is
Recommendation No. 195 concerning Human Resources Development: Education,
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25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
10
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 13 (1999), para. 16.
CEDAW/C/ETH/CO/6-7 (CEDAW, 2011); CEDAW/C/DJI/CO/1-3 (CEDAW, 2011).
CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/7 (CEDAW, 2011).
CEDAW/C/ZMB/CO/5-6 (CEDAW, 2011); CEDAW/C/ETH/CO/6-7 (CEDAW, 2011).
CRC/C/AGO/CO/2-4 (CRC, 2010).
CRC/C/PRY/CO/3 (CRC, 2010).
CRC/C/NER/CO/2 (CRC, 2009); CRC/C/COD/CO/2 (CRC, 2009).
CRC/C/BHR/CO/2-3 (CRC, 2011); CRC/C/MNE/CO/1 (CRC, 2010); CRC/C/CMR/CO/2 (CRC,
2010); CRC/C/NGA/CO/3-4 (CRC, 2010).
CRC/C/ARG/CO/3-4 (CRC, 2010).
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