A/71/358 the entire life and depending on educational and learning opportunities. The Special Rapporteur considers that it is the primary function of education to kindle in children a love for learning and a longing for lifelong learning for the sake of personal fulfilment. IV. Lifelong learning as a right 41. The Special Rapporteur recalls that the normative bases of lifelo ng learning exist in international human rights treaties. The Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) lays down the obligation of States with regard to continuing education. 13 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted in 1966, includes similar provisions. According to article 13 (2) (d) of the Covenant, individuals “who have not received or completed the whole period of their primary education” have a right to fundamental education, or basic education as defined in the World Declaration on Education for All (1990). The enjoyment of the right to fundamental education is not limited by age or gender; it extends to children, young people and adults, including older persons. Fundamental education, therefore, is an integral component of adult education and lifelong learning. Because fundamental education is a right of all age groups, curricula and delivery systems suitable for students of all ages must be devised. 14 Emergence of the “right to lifelong learning” 42. The Special Rapporteur considers it important to take full cognizance of UNESCO normative work in the early 1970s, which led to the emergence of the “right to lifelong learning”. The Third International Conference on Adult Education, convened by UNESCO in Tokyo in 1972, provided a conceptual turning point when it declared its belief that “the right of individuals to education, their right to learn and to go on learning, is to be considered on the same basis as their other fundamental rights, such as the right to health and to hygiene, the right to security, the right to all forms of civil liberty, etc.” 15 43. By the end of the 1980s, the idea of a “right to learn” emerged as distinct from that of the “right to education”. The Fourth International Conference on Adult Education, held in Paris in 1985, adopted a declaration on the right to learn. Its importance was underlined by the fifth International Conference on Adult Education (Hamburg, 1997), which declared that “the recognition of the right to education and the right to learn throughout life is more than ever a necessity”. 15 44. The Special Rapporteur also underlines the importance of the work of ILO in supporting the normative bases of lifelong learning, recognizing that “education and training are a right for all” and that, in cooperation with social partners, States should “work towards ensuring access for all to lifelong learning”. 12 He notes that __________________ 13 14 15 10/26 According to the Convention, States have the obligation “to encourage and intensify by appropriate methods the education of persons who have not received any primary education or who have not completed the entire primary education course and the continuation of their education on the basis of individual capacity”. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 ( E/C.12/1999/10), paras. 22-24. UNESCO, World Education Report 2000 (see footnote 4), p. 58. 16-14910