Educational and Cultural Obligations of Palestine

Abstract

Substantial legislation relating to education and culture in Palestine stems from past periods; most legislative enactments have been adopted before the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Palestine became a state party, on 1 April 2014. This paper surveys the educational and cultural rights guaranteed under the legal system in Palestine and examines whether Palestine would be in a position to realize these rights for its inhabitants and towards the international community. In light of the absence of statutes that comprehensively regulate the educational and cultural rights in the country, and notwithstanding that certain aspects of the applicable law happened to be compatible with international human rights standards, Palestine needs to undertake systematic modernization process in this connection.