Human Rights Council

Twent y- six th session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil , political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

26/17 The right to education: follow-up to Human Rights Council resolution 8/4

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 23/4 of 13 June 2013, and the resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights on the subject,

Recalling 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 Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other relevant international instruments,

Deeply concerned that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, none of the Education for All goals will be achieved globally by 2015 despite the advances achieved over the past decade,

Underlining that full access to quality education at all levels is an essential condition for achieving sustainable development, and in this regard, the need to accelerate progress towards achieving the education-related development goals set for 2015 and to ensure that the right to education is central in the context of the post-2015 agenda,

Underlining also the importance of access to new information technologies, including the Internet, to facilitate the realization of the right to education and to promote quality education;

Aware of the role that communications procedures can play to promote the justiciability of the right to education, and welcoming in this regard the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure on 14 April 2014,

Welcoming the steps taken at the national level to implement the right to education, including the enactment of appropriate legislation and adjudication by national courts,

Recalling its resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of the Human Rights Council, and 5/2, on the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate Holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

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, developing and applying assessment systems that are in compliance with international human rights law, by such means as:

(a)Promoting a holistic approach that respects and promotes human rights in the assessment of student attainments;

(b)Establishing assessment mechanisms to help to ensure the quality of education;

(c)Developing or strengthening the capacity of teachers to foster quality education;

(d)Promoting the use of educational curricula that are updated and in conformity with international human rights law;

(e)Developing innovative assessment mechanisms for technical and vocational education and training programmes;

(f)Support research programmes and studies on national assessments of student attainments;

3.Notes with appreciation:

(a)The report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education on the assessment of the educational attainment of students and the implementation of the right to education;

(b)The work of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special procedures in the promotion of the right to education;

(c)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;

(d)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;

(e)International initiatives aimed at discussing and advancing the education agenda beyond 2015, while underlining the importance that the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and other ongoing consultation processes can have in this regard;

4.Calls upon all relevant stakeholders urgently to increase their efforts to accelerate progress towards attaining the education goals set for 2015, in particular the goals of the Education for All agenda and education-related Millennium Development Goals, and to ensure that the importance of quality education, including the achievement of relevant learning outcomes, is taken fully into account in the elaboration of the post-2015 agenda;

5.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;

6.Strongly condemns attacks, including terrorist attacks, on educational institutions as such, their students and staff, and recognizes the negative impact that such attacks can have on the realization of the right to education, in particular of girls;

7.Recognizes the importance of efforts towards the elaboration of relevant guidelines to protect schools and universities from military use during armed conflict;

8.Decides to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education for a period of three years;

9.Requests the Special Rapporteur to take fully into account, in the discharge of his mandate, all provisions of Human Rights Council resolutions on the right to education;

10.Requests all States to continue to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur with a view to facilitating his tasks in the discharge of his mandate, and to respond favourably to his requests for information and visits;

11.Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide all the human and financial resources necessary for the effective fulfilment of the mandate by the Special Rapporteur;

12.Encourages the Office of the High Commissioner, the treaty bodies, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council and other relevant United Nations bodies and mechanisms, specialized agencies and programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue their efforts to promote the realization of the right to education worldwide and to enhance their cooperation in this regard, including by enhancing technical assistance to Governments;

13.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;

14.Decides to remain seized of the matter.

38th meeting

26 June 2014

[Adopted without a vote.]