Human Rights Council 38: The Right to Education
This UK statement was delivered during the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council during the Interactive dialogue with SR on the Right to Education, held on 19 June 2018.
The Human Rights Council takes place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
As the Council heard yesterday from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, the right to education, in particular for girls, is one of his top policy priorities.
As the Special Rapporteur has noted, women and girls are frequently excluded from education. Families often favour boys when investing in education. Many of the issues this Council considers, such as child marriage, early pregnancy, child labour, and violence against women and girls, all keep girls from attending school.
But the education challenge we face is much greater than access to education. Urgent action is needed to ensure that a generation of girls get a quality education leading to improved learning outcomes and the skills they need to lead and succeed. For that we need to improve teacher quality, further reform education systems to drive up quality and ensure education reaches the most marginalised in our societies.
Education for all is a human right in itself. It is also fundamental to lasting poverty reduction, and to building prosperous, resilient economies and peaceful, stable societies.
The United Kingdom welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s work, and today’s session. All of us must - and can - do more to make 12 years of quality girls’ education a priority, which is why we hope to count on your support for a joint statement that makes exactly this point.
We would welcome the Special Rapporteur’s views on how the Council can best support her work on this vital issue.