GEM Report Unesco

Education and justice are deeply connected.
In Kenya, CRIME SI POA is working with schools, communities and prisons to prevent crime through legal literacy, rehabilitation and reintegration.

Their work shows how education can help people understand their rights, avoid unnecessary criminalization and rebuild their lives with dignity.

This reflects the findings of our new joint report with Namati and Grassroots Justice Network, ‘Education and justice: Learning to build just societies’, which argues that education is one of the most powerful tools societies have to build trust, expand legal empowerment and improve access to justice.

Yet, this connection remains too often overlooked.

➡️ Explore more in the latest by Caroline Njambi Njanja, Crime Si Poa, Kenya: https://bit.ly/3REtVBg


Namati Kenya

Nearly half of the world’s 12.4 million refugee children are out of school.

Many also face barriers linked to displacement, statelessness, missing legal identity documents, discrimination and weak access to justice.

The new , Namati and Grassroots Justice Network paper on education and justice shows that education exclusion is closely tied to the strength of the rule of law. Countries with stronger justice systems and lower discrimination tend to have lower out-of-school rates.

Education is not only a victim of injustice. It is also one of the strongest tools societies have to build peace, protect rights and empower people to seek justice.

Because access to education is also about dignity, protection and belonging.

➡️ Explore how to : https://bit.ly/2026justice-report

In a survey across 15 countries, people ranked education as the second most important factor for peace, after addressing the root causes of conflict.

Higher levels of education are associated with lower prevalence of conflict and a higher probability of peace.

Yet, of 2,257 peace agreements since 1990, involving more than 80 countries, only 2.5% mentioned the right to education.

Education is often described as a foundation for peace, but rarely treated as one in peace negotiations.

➡️ Explore more in the new and Namati paper on education and justice: https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network

Join the , Namati, and Grassroots Justice Network for a live webinar exploring the paper.
Together, we will hear from policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and grassroots organizations about how education can strengthen legal empowerment, reinforce democratic participation, and help build more just and inclusive societies

📅 Date: Wednesday, June 3
🕛 Time: 4:00–5:00 PM CEST
🔗 Register here: https://cloud.gem-report.unesco.org/Event-justice_20260603

The right to education is recognized in most constitutions. But millions still struggle to defend that right in practice.

The new and Namati paper on education and justice shows that formal guarantees alone do not ensure justice in education systems.

Discrimination complaints are often dismissed. Vulnerable groups still face barriers to legal recourse. And many people lack the legal knowledge, literacy or institutional support needed to defend their rights.

Yet when justice systems work, they can expand education rights. In Colombia, a Constitutional Court ruling helped establish free primary and secondary education nationwide.

Education systems do not only need laws. They need accountability.

➡️ Explore more: https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network

Education policy is also crime prevention policy.

Early investment in education can reduce crime and help break cycles of reoffending.

In disadvantaged areas of the United States, early exposure to the Head Start programme reduced adult conviction rates by 20%. A 10% rise in per-pupil spending cut youth arrests among 15- to 19-year-olds.

The effects continue later in life. In Sweden, each additional year of schooling reduced the likelihood of conviction for violent crime by 10% and property crime by 14%.

Education also matters after incarceration. Prison education reduces reoffending, yet one in four countries still has no dedicated rehabilitation strategy.

➡️ Explore more in the new and Namati paper on education and justice: https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network

Justice systems are often hardest to access for the people who need them most.
Around 1.4 billion people face barriers to obtaining justice for legal problems.

Legal procedures can be costly and complex. Technical legal language, low literacy and weak institutional support prevent many people from defending their rights.

The new and Namati paper on education and justice shows why education matters for access to justice.

People with more education are more likely to know where to seek legal advice and to believe justice systems will work in their best interest. Yet many justice systems remain inaccessible to those with the fewest educational opportunities.

Access to justice depends not only on laws, but also on people’s ability to know, use, and shape the laws meant to protect them.

➡️ Explore more: https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network I Varkey Foundation I World Justice Project I Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law I United Nations Development Programme - UNDP I Street Law, Inc. I Innovations for Poverty Action

Education is often seen as a social issue. But it is also a justice issue.
Our new paper ‘Education and justice: Learning to build just societies’ in partnership with Namati argues that education is one of the strongest tools societies have to build fairness, trust and accountability. Yet this connection is too often overlooked.

Today:
🔴 1.4 billion people lack meaningful access to justice
🔴 273 million children and youth remain out of school
🔴 Only 55% of countries make the right to education legally enforceable

The evidence shows that education can strengthen legal empowerment, reduce crime, support peace-building and increase trust in institutions.

For example, in Sweden, each additional year of schooling reduced violent crime convictions by 10%. Across 27 countries, trust in judges rose with education levels.

But education’s role goes beyond schools. Justice institutions themselves depend on training grounded in ethics, human rights and community engagement, for judges, police officers, prison staff and lawyers alike.

The report calls for human rights, peace and legal education to move from the margins to the centre of education agendas.
➡️ Explore more in the latest : https://bit.ly/3RCu1tb

The right to education is often violated long before a child enters a classroom.
A new and Namati paper, ‘Education and justice: Learning to build just societies’, shows how exclusion, discrimination and weak justice systems continue to keep millions of children out of school.

Today, 273 million children, adolescents and youth are out of school. 1 in 5 children under age 5 has no birth registration globally. Nearly half of the world’s 12.4 million refugee children are out of school, while 260,000 children are in detention worldwide.

Stronger justice systems can prevent exclusion: out-of-school rates are lower where the rule of law is stronger.

Education and justice cannot be separated.

➡️ Explore how to : https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network I Varkey Foundation I World Justice Project I Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law I United Nations Development Programme - UNDP I Street Law, Inc. I Innovations for Poverty Action

What does justice have to do with education?

A new paper by the and Namati explores how education and justice shape one another.

At a time when inequality, conflict and discrimination are hard to ignore - and the rule of law is in decline, - ‘Education and justice: Learning to build just societies’ shows how education can help people understand and defend their rights, navigate legal systems and reduce vulnerability to discrimination and abuse.

It also demonstrates that exclusion, discrimination and weak justice systems continue to prevent millions from accessing education.

From peace education to legal empowerment, the paper argues that learning is central to building just societies.

➡️ Explore how to : https://bit.ly/2026justice-report


Grassroots Justice Network I Varkey Foundation I World Justice Project I Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law I United Nations Development Programme - UNDP I Street Law, Inc. I Innovations for Poverty Action

The expansion of early childhood education is often framed as an education story. But it is also a labour market story.
As more mothers seek to return to work, demand for childcare and pre-primary education rises. And when affordable, quality provision exists, women are more able to re-enter the workforce in the first place.

The relationship works both ways.

The 2026 shows how countries that invested in accessible early childhood care saw measurable gains in maternal employment:
🔹 In Quebec, universal low-cost childcare increased maternal labour force participation by an estimated 8 percentage points
🔹 In Spain, expanding public preschool increased mothers’ employment probability by 3 to 7 percentage points
🔹 In Poland, preschool reforms raised maternal employment by 4.2%

But in many lower-income countries, returning to work remains difficult for mothers because early childhood care is often scarce, costly, poorly regulated or only available for a few hours a day. Women still bear most of the cost when childcare systems fail.

Expanding access is not only about education policy. It is also about gender equality, labour markets and economic participation. Because for many families, the decision to enrol a child in preschool is inseparable from the question of whether parents can afford to work at all.

➡️ Read more in the latest : https://bit.ly/3Rb2ChV