A/HRC/RES/56/5
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
12 July 2024
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Fifty-sixth session
18 June–12 July 2024
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
on 10 July 2024
56/5.
Open-ended intergovernmental working group on an optional protocol
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the rights to early
childhood education, free pre-primary education and free
secondary education
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming 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
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention against
Discrimination in Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization and referenced in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and other relevant international instruments,
Recalling the Human Rights Council resolutions on the right to education, the most
recent of which is resolution 53/7 of 12 July 2023,
Welcoming the near-universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, in which States parties agreed, with a view to achieving the right of the child to
education progressively, and on the basis of equal opportunity, to make primary education
compulsory and available free to all, encourage the development of different forms of
secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and
accessible to every child and take appropriate measures, such as the introduction of free
education and offering financial assistance in case of need, and noting the consistent work of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child in examining the progress made in achieving the
realization of the obligations undertaken under the Convention on the Rights of the Child by
States parties thereto,
Reaffirming the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable
Development Goals contained therein, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 4, which
is aimed at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, including early childhood,
GE.24-12789 (E)