A/65/162 called hidden curriculum, with its potential load of prejudices and inaccuracies over which there can be no social or family criticism or control. D. The right to sexual education: its relationship to other rights and the need for a gender and diversity perspective 19. The right to education includes the right to sexual education, which is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights, 6 such as the right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive rights. 7 20. Thus, the right to comprehensive sexual education is part of the right of persons to human rights education. 8 21. In order for sexual education to be comprehensive and to meet its goals, it must have a solid gender perspective. Many studies have shown that young people who believe in gender equality have better sexual lives. Conversely, when this is not the case, their intimate relations are generally marked by inequality. Sexual education should therefore focus on gender norms, roles and relationships. 22. The Special Rapporteur wishes to make it clear that gender issues are not exclusively women’s issues but also involve men, who can benefit from less rigid roles and more egalitarian relationships. When the Special Rapporteur refers to the need to mainstream gender into the programming and curriculum design of sexual education, the idea is that men’s issues should also be explicitly included. This is crucial in order to ensure the cultural shift that human rights require our societies to make, since the goal of education for sexuality is also to construct affects and develop a transforming role for men by going beyond the strictly genital and physical aspect. 23. In order to be comprehensive, sexual education must pay special attention to diversity, since everyone has the right to deal with his or her own sexuality without being discriminated against on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. 9 Sexual education is a basic tool for ending discrimination against persons of diverse sexual orientations. A very important contribution to thinking in this area was made by the 2006 Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Special Rapporteur __________________ 6 7 8 9 10-46213 See document E/C.12/1999/10. Cf. Alda Facio, Los derechos reproductivos son derechos humanos, publication of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, 2008. See also International Council on Human Rights Policy, Sexuality and Human Rights, Discussion Paper (http://www.ichrp.org/files/ reports/47/137_web.pdf). See Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, Eighth Inter-American Report on Human Rights Education, San José, 2009. On 3 June 2008, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States adopted by consensus the resolution entitled “Human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity”. In the same year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration on the subject. International case law also deals with the question of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; see, for example, the cases of Toonen v. Australia in the Human Rights Committee and the cases of Dudgeon v. United Kingdom and S. L. v. Austria in the European Court of Human Rights. 7