A/74/243
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur considers ways in which the right
to education contributes to the prevention of atrocity crimes and mass or grave human
rights violations. Stressing that education has a key role to play at all stages of
prevention, the Special Rapporteur underlines the particularly forceful preventive
potential of the right to education in the very early stages, before warning signs are
apparent. That role is to be linked with the aims of education and the right to inclusive
and equitable quality education, as established in international instruments.
Peace, acceptance of the “other”, respect for cultural diversity, the participation
of all in the development of society and an education that is adequate and adapted to
the specific needs of people in their own context are objectives of education that have
been widely recognized by States and human rights mechanisms at the international
and regional levels. However, education is not afforded the importance or the funding
it deserves and needs in order to play those roles.
The Special Rapporteur, highlighting circumstances under which schools can
become tools for division and lay the groundwork for future violent conflicts, focuses
on a number of steps regarding the organization of school systems, pedagogy and the
values and skills to be transmitted to learners that are crucial in terms of prevention.
She proposes an education framework (known in English as the “ABCDE framework”)
that encompasses the interrelated features of education needed in order for the
preventive potential of the right to education to be fully deployed. Namely, education
should promote acceptance of self and others; a sense of belonging to society; criti cal
thinking; diversity; and the capacity of learners to feel empathy for others. The right
to inclusive and equitable quality education must be taken seriously and be prioritized
if States and other stakeholders are serious in their commitment to prevent violent
conflicts, atrocity crimes and mass or grave human rights violations.
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19-12865