A/70/342 22. On 15 April, the Special Rapporteur delivered a statement at the opening of the general discussion on the right to education of persons with disabilities, organized in Geneva by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabiliti es, with a view to formulating a general comment on article 24 (right to education) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 23. On 22 April, he gave a guest lecture at Cornell Law School, New York State, on the negative effects of privatization in education, highlighting State obligations and the need for preserving education as a public good. 24. On 25 May, he gave the opening address at an international conference on the justiciability of the right to education and the post -2015 development agenda, organized by the Centre for Law and Policy Research in Bangalore, India, from 25 to 27 May. 25. On 10 June, the Special Rapporteur took part in a round -table expert consultation on public private partnerships in education, hosted by the Ope n Society Foundation and interacted with experts from universities in Europe, North America and Asia, while addressing the issues of private-public partnerships and the right to education in their interface with privatization in education. 26. On 10 June, he also took part in a seminar on the application of standards on economic, social and cultural rights in domestic law, hosted by the International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education and the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva and, as the main speaker, focused on the justiciability of the right to education. 27. On 12 June, he spoke at an event on human rights policy responses to the growth of private actors in education, hosted by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Right to Education Project, the Privatisation in Education Research Initiative and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. His intervention underlined the need to address the concerns raised by growing privatization in education and the need for effective mechanisms to control abusive behaviour. 28. On 16 June, the Special Rapporteur spoke at the Human Rights Council panel on “Realizing the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl”. He emphasized the need to ensure the quality of education and a safe school environment for girls, and the State obligation to take a human rights approach to safeguarding girls’ right to education. He urged States to take positive measures. 29. On 18 June, he held an interactive dialogue with a Geneva -based NGO, Platform on the Right to Education, at an event organized in support of his report to the Human Rights Council. 30. From 22 to 27 June, he attended the nineteenth Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, hosted by the Bahamas, addressing the key issues relating to the right to education at the regional ministerial caucus. He also addressed the teachers’ forum organized during the conference, emphasizing the need for safeguarding education from privatization, especially its negative repercussions on the teaching profession. 31. On 23 July, he addressed a plenary session of the seventh World Congress of Education International, held in Ottawa, and underlined the importance of the 15-12538 5/25