THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Stanković Marko (Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду), stankovicm@ius.bg.ac.rs

This paper analyzes the international and constitutional legal aspects of the right to education. The right to education is one of the most significant cultural rights, which belongs to the second generation of human rights, together with economic and social rights. The first part of the paper analyses definitions of the right to education in the most important international documents on human rights. This right is regulated by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as relevant regional human rights conventions. The right to education is the only cultural right that has found its place in the European Convention on Human Rights. Therefore, the central part of the paper is dedicated to the status and protection of the right to education in the system of the Council of Europe. The right to education enjoys direct protection before the European Court of Human Rights, whose decisions have significantly improved this right. The last part of the paper analyzes the position of the right to education in the Republic of Serbia. In the constitutional system of the Republic of Serbia, the right to education is guaranteed by the Constitution and is regulated in detail by law. In its realization, there are certain problems in practice. The concluding observations summarize the results of the research and provide some suggestions for improving the position of the right to education.

Keywords: the right to education, the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, Cultural Rights, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia