A/68/294 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 8/4 and 17/3. It focuses on the role of education in the post-2015 development agenda. 1 2. The present report highlights recent developments in the post-2015 development agenda using a rights-based approach to education and analyses education goals and provides necessary implementation strategies with a focus on action at the national level. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance of ensuring equity and quality, as well as enhanced public investment, in education. The Special Rapporteur concludes with recommendations on ways to operationalize a rights-based approach to the education-related development goals. 3. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur undertook missions to Ecuador and Tunisia, and reported thereon to the Human Rights Council during its twenty-third session. During that session, on 31 May 2013, he presented his thematic report entitled “Justiciability of the right to education” to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/23/35). The report examined questions related to the enforcement of the right to education and highlighted the available jurisprudence at the national, regional and international levels. It also offered recommendations for making the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement more effective. 4. The Special Rapporteur participated in a number of public events on education and continued collaborating with States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. A number of those events and activities had a bearing on the theme of the present report. 5. In May 2012, the Special Rapporteur delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the Fourth International Policy Dialogue Forum of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All in New Delhi, India, organized by the Government of India in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 6. In June 2012, the Special Rapporteur participated as keynote speaker at a side event, organized by the International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education, aimed at promoting quality education. In July, the Special Rapporteur met with a high-level delegation of the Ministry of Education of Thailand at UNESCO headquarters in Paris for a dialogue on teachers’ education, quality imperatives and normative action in the field of education. That was followed by a discussion on the education agenda beyond 2015 in Thailand (considering its Millennium Development Goals Plus commitments) and the country’s policy of 15 years of free education for all. 7. In September 2012, he gave a keynote address at a seminar organized by the European Ideas Network, in cooperation with the European People’s Party of the European Parliament in Brussels to address the importance of quality education. He also was one of the main speakers at the launch of the publication entitled “Protecting education in insecurity and armed conflict: an international law __________________ 1 4/26 “Post-2015 development agenda” refers to the international process which will result in development goals intended to replace the Millennium Development Goals. 13-42277