On 7 July 2025, the UN Human Rights Council adopted by consensus the Resolution A/HRC/RES/59/9 on the right to education.
Resolutions on the right to education are adopted every two years and the negotiations are led by Portugal. They reflect recent international developments regarding the right to education and include references to the thematic reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education. Each new resolution builds on the previous one.
This new resolution adds references to two new international instruments:
The Fortaleza Declaration adopted in November 2024, noting that it ‘emphasizes the need for innovative educational strategies that prioritize equity and inclusion, calling for renewed focus on financing education.’
The UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights, International Understanding, Cooperation, Fundamental Freedoms, Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development, adopted in November 2023 by all 194 UNESCO Member States at the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO
The ILO Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation (No. 208), adopted in 2023
It adds mentions to specific groups, including persons with disabilities, local communities, children from low-income families, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
See below additions regarding spcific topics.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
Regarding ECCE, the resolution acknowledges that ‘privately funded supply is predominant in most countries at the global level’ and stresses ‘the need to invest in public, sufficient, free, inclusive and equitable quality early childhood care and education’. The move from ‘affordable’ in the previous Resolution to ‘free’ is an encouraging change towards the realisation of the right to ECCE for all. When urging States to give full effect to the right to education, by interalia, ‘recognizing the significant importance of investment in free, inclusive and equitable quality public education’, the resolution now specifies that this applies ‘at all levels’.
School meals
A new paragraph is added ‘acknowledging the importance of implementing safe, nutritious and sufficient school-feeding programmes as an effective and affordable strategy for the inclusion, development and re-engagement of children and youth in schools and for the realization of the right to education and the right to food, taking note of the convening of the first global summit of the School Meals Coalition in Paris on 18 and 19 October 2023 and the second global summit of the School Meals Coalition in Fortaleza, Brazil, in September 2025, and also noting other efforts and country-led initiatives.’
Attacks on Education
Regarding attacks on education, the resolution specifies ‘the context of armed conflict and situations of occupation’. It adds reference to the efforts aimed at ‘restoring safe access to education after attacks’. The resolution ‘calls upon States to accelerate efforts to prevent attacks on education during armed conflict, to end impunity for such attacks, to ensure accountability, to provide access to justice and effective remedies for victims.’ It also urges them to take measures ‘to criminalize and deter the military use of schools and universities’ and to implement ‘the Safe Schools Declaration or in the case of States who have not yet done so to consider endorsing it’
Climate change
Regarding the negative impact of climate change and natural disasters on the full realization of the right to education, reference is added on the role of education in promoting ‘disaster-risk knowledge’.
Technologies in education
Regarding the use of technology in education, the resolution adds that access to information and communications technology (ICT) must be ‘safe’. New references are made to ‘artificial intelligence’. The resolution notes that ICT also plays a role ‘in diversifying learning resources and teaching methods’. It makes references to teachers, stressing that ‘the incorporation of digital technologies in education (...), is not a long-term replacement for on-site schooling nor justifies the lack of investment in the human factor, particularly teachers, (...) whose rights and freedoms shall be protected.’ Regarding the unintended negative effects of digital technologies, the ‘ arbitrary or unlawful surveillance’ is added. (Reflected the UN Special Rapporteur’s reports on the role and rights of teachers and on AI in education). The resolution urges States ‘to ensure that artificial intelligence tools are inclusive and accessible and eliminate biases from data sets and algorithms’. It calls upon them to take appropriate measures to accelerate efforts to bridge the digital divides and technological gaps, ‘through, inter alia, infrastructural developments’.
Academic Freedom
Academic freedom is developed and strengthened in this resolution, building on the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on the right to academic freedom. The resolution expresses ’deep concern at the increasing restrictions on academic freedom’. It stresses ‘that academic freedom, at all levels of education, inside and outside the academic community, is at the heart of scientific progress and contributes to building knowledge as a public and common good, and that individuals, as members of academic communities or in their own pursuits, should be free to conduct activities involving the discovery and transmission of knowledge and ideas, and to do so with the full protection of human rights law’. The resolution also ‘takes note with appreciation of the Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom’.
Higher education
For the first time, the resolution stresses ‘the role of higher education as an essential part of the right to education’.
Right to be safe in education
Building on the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on the right to be safe in education, the resolution recognises ‘the right of every individual to be safe in education, understood as the right to be protected from any violation of their integrity’. Regarding this issue, it urges States ‘to provide sufficient physical and mental health care and services in educational institutions and to address the root causes of the increasing mental health needs of children and young persons’.
Access to education
Regarding access to education, this new resolution urges states to remove ‘all financial barriers such as direct and indirect costs’.
Monitoring on the right to education
Regarding the monitoring of the right to education, the resolution adds ‘data collection, evaluation and monitoring capacities’ as important tools for the realization of the right to education and for policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency. It encourages all States ‘to ensure the availability of high-quality quantitative and qualitative data on education to different actors in society, including education authorities, monitoring entities, academic institutions, civil society actors and researchers’.
Looking forward, it ‘encourages States to secure ambitious outcomes at the Second World Summit for Social Development, which will take place from 4 to 6 November 2025, in Doha, in respect to the critical role of education in driving social progress’.
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At the time we published this news, the final resolution is not available yet, you can access the draft here.
For the best use of the resolution, we recommend you to read How to use United Nations Human Rights Resolutions to Advance Children’s Rights