The Best Interests of the Child and the Right to Inclusive Education

Abstract

The drafters of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (crpd) incorporated the concept of inclusive education into Article 24 of the crpd. Many consider this to be a new children’s right. The inclusive education idea has played since 2006 a role in interpreting crc Article 23 (rights of children with disabilities), Article 28 (right to education) and Article 29 (aims of education). The relationship between these two complementary human rights Conventions (crc and crpd) is described and the question raised by Sandland and discussed here is if there is a “Clash of Conventions”. The disability rights perspective created an ideological battle between advocates of the closure of special education and those who oppose it. The author supports the proposal (More and More Inclusive, 2020) by the Dutch Education Council to the Minister of Education to bring special and regular education closer to each other, but not closing special education.