Ms Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, visited UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on the week of 16 January 2023. She met with UNESCO officials from all sectors, as well as UNESCO Institutes to discuss the right to Education and relevant issues pertinent to the realization to that right. Potential areas of collaboration and synergies between the UN Rapporteur and UNESCO were also explored.

At the end of her five-day official visit to UNESCO, Shaheed made a statement stressing on the need for robust financial and political commitment from States in order to ensure the right to education for all. She emphasized that “the right to education for all will remain an empty promise unless adequate financial resources are available to UNESCO, the international agency leading education, as well as in all national budgets.”

Shaheed applauded UNESCO’s efforts to initiate much-needed discussions on education paradigm shifts to learn from the past and address today's realities. She presented her preliminary observations and highlighted key issues that need to be addressed, stating that “the right to education is a right to lifelong learning. Beyond issues of availability and access, we must ensure quality, relevant content, nurturing a sense of global citizenship, spaces for open discussions as well as respect for diversity, inclusion, and human rights.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education will provide more observations and recommendations in a report to the Human Rights Council in June 2023.

Read her full statement here: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/education/statements/2023-01-13/20230120-eom-statement-unesco-sr-education-en.docx