RES/32/22 The right to education

GE.16-12328(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-second session

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 1 July 2016

32/22. The right to education

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming its resolution 8/4 of 18 June 2008, and recalling all other Human Rights

Council resolutions on the right to education, the most recent of which is resolution 29/7 of

2 July 2015, and the resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights on the

subject,

Reaffirming also the human right of everyone to education, which is enshrined in,

inter alia, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and

Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and

the Convention against Discrimination in Education of the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization, and other relevant international instruments,

Bearing in mind the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and

Training and the World Programme for Human Rights Education,

Welcoming the progress made in achieving the Education for All goals and the

related Millennium Development Goals, while recognizing the need to accelerate efforts to

complete the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals,

Recalling the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable

quality education and lifelong learning for all,1 adopted at the World Education Forum

2015, held in Incheon, Republic of Korea,

Welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development,2 which includes the goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable

quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all,

1 General Assembly resolution 70/135, para. 32.

Reiterating the commitment to strengthen the means of implementation in order to

ensure the full realization of the Sustainable Development Goals, and in this context

welcoming the adoption of the Education 2030 Framework For Action, which aims at

mobilizing all countries and partners and provides guidance for achieving Sustainable

Development Goal 4 on education, and its targets,

Strongly condemning the recurring attacks on students, teachers, schools and

universities, which impair the realization of the right to education and cause severe and

long-lasting harm to individuals and societies,

Recognizing the negative impact of conflict and crisis on the full realization of the

right to education, and that a large proportion of the world’s out-of-school population lives

in conflict-affected areas, as noted in the Incheon Declaration,

Deeply concerned that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization, despite all efforts by Governments, civil society and the

international community and the tremendous progress achieved between 2000 and 2015,

the Education for All goals and the education-related Millennium Development Goals have

not been achieved globally,

Reiterating the contribution that access to new information and communications

technology, including the Internet, plays in facilitating the realization of the right to

education and in promoting inclusive quality education,

Recalling the Paris Open Educational Resources Declaration, adopted on 22 June

2012 at the World Open Educational Resources Congress of the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,

Recognizing that factors such as the digital divide, disparities in access to the

Internet and other information and communications technology, infrastructure constraints,

marginalization and exclusion, and challenges relating to the quality and recognition of

degrees and diplomas can limit the utilization of the full potential of information and

communications technology in contributing to the realization of the right to education,

Welcoming the steps taken to implement the right to education, such as the

enactment of appropriate legislation, adjudication by national courts, the development of

national indicators and ensuring justiciability, as appropriate, of this right,

Aware of the role that communications procedures can play to promote the

justiciability of the right to education,

1. Calls upon all States to take all measures to implement Human Rights

Council resolutions on the right to education with a view to ensuring the full realization of

this right for all;

2. Urges all States to give full effect to the right to education by, inter alia,

complying with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education by all

appropriate means, including by taking measures, such as:

(a) Addressing issues of access, quality and equity in the use of information and

communications technology in education, including in order to bridge the digital divide;

(b) Creating an enabling policy environment for drawing on digital technologies

that can serve as valuable tools in the delivery of education;

2 General Assembly resolution 70/1.

(c) Building the capacity of teachers to use digital technologies while retaining

their freedom concerning pedagogical approaches;

(d) Assessing the quality of education, including online or Internet education and

certification, including massive open online courses, and taking appropriate remedial or

other action to address policies or practices that prevent the enjoyment of the right to

education by, inter alia, engaging with existing national human rights mechanisms,

parliamentarians and civil society;

(e) Putting in place a regulatory framework for education providers, including

those operating independently or in partnership with States, guided by international human

rights obligations, that establishes, inter alia, minimum norms and standards for the creation

and operation of educational services, addresses any negative impact of the

commercialization of education, and strengthens access to appropriate remedies and

reparation for victims of violations of the right to education;

(f) Encouraging the availability of educational resources in various languages,

including in the implementation of information and communications technology in

education;

3. Also urges all States to expand educational opportunities for all without

discrimination, recognizing the significant importance of investment in public education to

the maximum of available resources; to increase and improve domestic and external

financing for education, as affirmed in the Incheon Declaration and the Education 2030

Framework for Action; to ensure that education policies and programmes are consistent

with human rights standards and principles, including those laid down in the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights and in relevant international human rights instruments; and to

strengthen engagement with all relevant stakeholders, including communities, local actors

and civil society, to contribute to education as a public good;

4. Further urges all States to regulate and monitor education providers and to

hold accountable those whose practices have a negative impact on the enjoyment of the

right to education, and to support research and awareness-raising activities to better

understand the wide-ranging impact of the commercialization of education on the

enjoyment of the right to education;

5. Welcomes:

(a) The work of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, and takes note

of his latest report, on issues and challenges to the right to education in the digital age, with

a focus on higher education;3

(b) The work of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special

procedures in the promotion of the right to education, and the work undertaken by the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the promotion of the

right to education at the country, regional and headquarters levels;

(c) The contribution of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and other relevant bodies towards

attaining the goals of the Education for All agenda and education-related Millennium

Development Goals;

6. Calls upon States to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development, including Goal 4;

3 A/HRC/32/37.

7. Reaffirms the obligations and commitments to take steps, individually and

through international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the

maximum of available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization

of the right to education by all appropriate means, including in particular the adoption of

legislative measures;

8. Calls upon States to take all necessary measures, including sufficient

budgetary allocations, to ensure inclusive, equitable and non-discriminatory quality

education, and to promote learning opportunities for all, paying particular attention to girls,

marginalized children and persons with disabilities;

9. Stresses the importance of international cooperation, including the exchange

of good practices, and of technical cooperation, capacity-building, financial assistance and

technology transfer on mutually agreed terms in the realization of the right to education,

including through the use of information and communications technology;

10. Calls upon States to continue to make efforts to strengthen the protection of

preschools, schools and universities against attacks;

11. Encourages efforts to provide safe, inclusive and enabling learning

environments and quality education for all within an appropriate time frame, including

higher education in humanitarian emergencies and conflict situations;

12. Encourages States to promote human rights education in accordance with the

United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training and the World

Programme for Human Rights Education as a means of contributing to the prevention of

human rights violations and conflict;

13. Encourages all States to measure progress in the realization of the right to

education, such as by developing national indicators as an important tool for the realization

of the right to education and for policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency;

14. Calls upon States to accelerate efforts to eliminate gender-based

discrimination and all forms of violence in schools and other educational settings, and to

realize gender equality and the right to education for all;

15. Acknowledges the role that communications procedures can play to promote

the justiciability of the right to education, and in this regard calls upon all States that have

not yet signed and ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider doing so as a matter of priority;

16. Encourages the High Commissioner, the treaty bodies, the special procedures

of the Human Rights Council and other relevant United Nations bodies and mechanisms,

specialized agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue

their efforts to promote the full realization of the right to education worldwide and to

enhance their cooperation in this regard, including by enhancing technical assistance to

Governments;

17. Stresses the importance of the contribution of national human rights

institutions, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and parliamentarians

to the realization of the right to education, including through cooperation with the Special

Rapporteur on the right to education;

18. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

44th meeting

1 July 2016

[Adopted without a vote.]