A/65/162 70. From an age perspective, the Special Rapporteur has found that there is a significant gap with regard to adults, including older adults, who are not generally taken into account in States’ public policies. However, recent decades have seen significant changes in adult learning, reflecting the principle of lifelong education. The Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning, adopted under UNESCO auspices in 1997, emphasizes the importance of sexual education for adults and sets out a commitment to “enabling people to exercise their human rights, including reproductive and sexual health rights, and to develop responsible and caring attitudes”. C. The role of families and the community 71. One of the fundamental challenges to achieving change in people’s behaviour and attitudes through education is the need to involve families and communities, avoiding the false dichotomy between the family and the State as guarantor of the right to comprehensive sexual education. Studies indicate that in some countries, one third of young women and one fifth of young men aged 15 to 19 say that they have never discussed sexuality-related issues with their parents.56 Thus, both real life and international law provide ample reason to oppose movements that seek to relieve States of their obligation to provide sexual education in the name of alleged and often non-existent family education. 72. The Special Rapporteur wishes to stress the important role played by families and communities in forming people’s identities. However, he also wishes to point out that States have an unavoidable obligation to guarantee education that is free from prejudices and stereotypes. School, as a forum for socialization, opens up access to different perspectives; thus, States and families have complementary roles that are not mutually exclusive with regard to sexual education. 73. Although fathers and mothers are free to choose the type of education that their sons and daughters will have, this authority may never run counter to the rights of children and adolescents, in accordance with the primacy of the principle of the best interests of the child. This implies a need to create forums in which all options and opinions can be discussed within the education process. Particularly in the case of sexual education, people have the right to receive high-quality scientific information that is unprejudiced and age-appropriate, so as to foster full development and prevent possible physical and psychological abuse. 74. Another concern with regard to sexual education is the need to respect the community’s cultural and religious values. Comprehensive sexual education presupposes values-based perspectives and may include different moral considerations from a pluralist point of view, but it must also be based on scientific evidence and promote the integration of individuals into a more democratic and egalitarian society. It is a challenge for educational systems and communities to work together so that the concerns of different groups can be expressed without imposing personal moral values on the general public since this compromises the individual’s freedom to choose a lifestyle. The Special Rapporteur has seen many cases in which scientific sexual education programmes that had been designed and approved were never implemented because of undue ecclesiastical influence, which is a source of concern. 18 10-46213