Despite these already low levels of spending on the public sector workforce, 20 countries have seen active declines in their spending on public sector workers as a % of GDP in the past five years, while at the same time additional staff in the education sector are needed for countries to fulfil the right to education 72%: spending under the for the growing population. [...] Having won the first stage of the battle for a UN Tax Convention the African Union should be in the forefront of shaping what the UN Tax convention looks like in practice and should champion the setting up of a well-resourced capacity at the United Nations to set and enforce global tax rules in a democratic and representative way. [...] • The African Union should offer capacity development support to Ministries of Education and development partners on the crucial links between tax and education – drawing on the expertise developed by the Tax and Education (TaxEd) Alliance and using for example, the UNESCO-supported training resources based on the Transforming Education Financing Toolkit. [...] ACTION ON DEBT AND EDUCATION The scale of the debt crisis in Africa was a clear issue flagged at the 6th Congress of African Economists in December 2023 and is reinforced by the latest data from the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD). [...] Austerity in the form of advancing privatisation also undermines the realisation of human rights contrary to Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights2 on the right to education, in combination with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ General Comment 7 on State obligations under the African Charter in the context of private provision of social services.
- Pages
- 25
- Published in
- South Africa
