A/HRC/56/58 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 27 June 2024 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifty-sixth session 18 June–12 July 2024 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Academic freedom Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed* Summary The present report on academic freedom is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed. In the report, the Special Rapporteur examines the right to academic freedom from a right to education perspective and proposes that academic freedom be considered as an autonomous human right grounded in several provisions of international law. Academic freedom comprises the freedom of individuals to access, disseminate and produce information, to think freely and to develop, express, apply and engage with a diversity of knowledge within or related to their fields of expertise or of study, whether inside (“intramural expression”) or outside the academic community, including with the public (“extramural expression”). It is a human right, the exercise of which carries special duties to seek the truth and to impart information according to ethical and professional standards and to respond to contemporary problems and needs of all members of society. Within the education field, the Special Rapporteur supports the entitlement to academic freedom for all researchers, educators and students, at all levels of education, taking into consideration the developing capacities and maturity of students. Academic freedom includes four interdependent pillars: the right to teach; to engage in discussions and debates with persons and groups inside (including in classrooms) and outside the academic community; to conduct research; and to disseminate opinions and results of research. The approach requires an understanding of the vital importance of free expression in teaching, a review of the concept of “neutrality” in education and a reconsideration of processes for accrediting school manuals, including the imposition and/or prohibition of specific subjects from curricula, bearing in mind the aims of education under international human rights law. Educators can foster critical thinking and provide diverse perspectives only if they themselves enjoy academic freedom, while upholding the principles of pluralism, respect for others and the pursuit of knowledge. * The present report was submitted to the conference services for processing after the deadline so as to include the most recent information. GE.24-07473 (E) 250624 270624