Right to higher education in the activities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Abstract

The article argues that OSCE education standards are
currently being addressed in several dimensions, such as
the protection of minority educational rights, education
and human rights, and education in conflict. The author
reaffirms that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institu-
tions and Human Rights, among other things, aims to en-
sure respect for diversity and understanding in education
and human rights education. The article reflects the focus
of OSCE field operations on educational reform issues, in-
cluding legal education, defining educational outcomes
and standards, issues of the eliminating discrimination
and alienation during education.
The author explores the OSCE High Commissioner’s
on National Minorities Hague Recommendations on the
Education Rights of National Minorities and the Explan-
atory Note to them, also as relevant OSCE methodical
publications such as “Education on the Holocaust and on
Anti-Semitism: An Overview and Analysis of Educational
Approaches”, “Guidelines for Educators on Countering
Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims: Ad-
dressing Islamophobia through Education”, “Guidelines
on Human Rights Education for Law Enforcement Offi-
cials” and “Guidelines on Human Rights Education for
Health Workers”.
The author noted that the OSCE’s approaches to the
formation of its own institution of higher education have
some specificity, different from the approaches to this is-
sue of the UN and institutions of the UN system. Europe-
an higher education standards are undergoing significant
development through the work of the OSCE, which accom-
plishes its own tasks, both in the light of the need to en-
sure the right to education and in view of the importance
of education for sustainable cooperation and security.
The non-contractual nature of the OSCE itself, and par-
ticipation in the organization of not only European but 
also all post-Soviet and some other States, determines the
specifics of both coverage and methods of applying OSCE
standards in the field of education.
The focus of these standards is on the protection of
the right of minorities to education, the introduction of
anti-discrimination mechanisms in education, effective
human rights education, and in particular in the formal
higher education of various qualifications. The author in-
vestigates the contractual, legislative and statutory sup-
port of the OSCE’s own educational institution in Bish-
kek. The article argues that this Academy is a specific
example of the implementation the supranational higher
education practices by OSCE for a particular institution.
The author summarizes that the implementation of OSCE
standards in higher education in Ukraine can serve as a
basis for new scientific research.