A/71/358 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 8/4 and 26/17. The report is devoted to lifelong learning and the right to education. The Special Rapporteur sheds light on the vision and concept of lifelong learning and highlights the emergence of the “right to learning” and its various dimensions, intertwined with the right to education and training as a social right. He also examines State responsibility, along with that of other social partners, for its realization as laid down in international human rights instruments . The report underlines the importance placed on lifelong learning in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with commitments by Governments to advancing progressively their education systems in that direction. Considering skills development a high priority, the Special Rapporteur looks at the special role that devolves upon technical and vocational education and training from a lifelong learning perspective. He analyses the issues surrounding the financing of lifelong learning, and initiatives being taken at the national level. Finally, the Special Rapporteur offers a set of recommendations with a view to promoting learning as a right and its pursuit from a lifelong learning perspective. II. Activities undertaken by the Special Rapporteur during the reporting period 2. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur undertook missions to Chile and Fiji and reported to the Human Rights Council at its thirty -second session. At that session, he presented his thematic report on the right to education in the digital age, with a focus on higher education ( A/HRC/32/37), to the Human Rights Council. In that report, he examined how education in the digital age must protect and respect the right to education. 3. The Special Rapporteur participated in a number of public events on education and continued collaborating with States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. 4. On 28 July 2015, the Special Rapporteur participated in an online workshop on the challenges of public-private partnerships in realizing the right to education in Oxford, hosted by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Open Society Foundations. The workshop served as a global expert consultation on issues relevant to the Special Rapporteur ’s 2015 report to the General Assembly. 5. On 18 and 19 August, the Special Rapporteur participated in the 2015 China Xinjiang Development Forum. In his address at the opening ceremony, he underlined the importance of the Forum in the context of the post-2015 development agenda, and skills development and international cooperation. 6. On 21 August, he addressed the opening ceremony of the international symposium on the theme “Grassland silk road and the world civilization”, organized by the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences in Hohhot, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. He highlighted the significance of the symposium in providing a better appreciation of the richness of intangible heritage. 7. On 26 August, he delivered a talk on the right to education to members and students of the Indian Law Institute in New Delhi. On 5 September, he gave a public 4/26 16-14910