2025 Social Forum Closes with a Call to Use Education to Shape a Fairer, Freer and More Sustainable World for All
The Social Forum today closed its 2025 session in Geneva, which, in accordance with resolution 56/12 of the Human Rights Council, focused on the contribution of education to the respect, promotion, protection and fulfilment of all human rights for all.
In closing remarks for the session, Anita Pipan, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, said that, in this year’s Social Forum, all speakers had a united conviction that education was not a privilege but a right and a shared responsibility. Ms. Pipan said that she would leave the Forum determined to make education a living force for equality, peace and empowerment, working with and for children and youth.
Carlos Sorreta, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, in his closing remarks, said this year’s Forum had shown that education enabled individuals to realise their fullest potential, challenge injustices, and participate equally in efforts to build just and sustainable communities. Concluding, he called on all parties to use human rights and education to shape a fairer, freer, and more sustainable world for all.
The Forum held five roundtable discussions on its second day. The first had the theme “Education for socio-economic rights – participation in socio-economic life, well-being and care, fair distribution of benefits, resources and opportunities”. Topics discussed included support for children in conflict situations, reform of financial systems, incentivisation of employment in teaching, combatting the negative impact of smartphone use on student outcomes, and supporting access to education for children with disabilities and children in developing countries.
Speaking in the interactive dialogue were Venezuela and the Council of Europe, as well as Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII, Pilares de una sociedad Project, Hazara Community in the Netherlands, Her Dream Initiative, The Association of People with Disability, Nebrija Mun association, UNIRE, Geneva for Human Rights, Higher Education Malaysia Association, Parlamento Internacional de Derechos Humanos, and Alianza Global de Jóvenes Politicos.
The second roundtable was on “Education for political rights – participation, citizenship and voice”. Topics discussed included promoting gender equality and disability rights through education, supporting the political participation of children and youth through civic education, and protecting students’ rights to engage in activism.
Speaking in the discussion were Romania, Kuwait and Sri Lanka. Also speaking was the Commission of Human Rights of the Philippines, as well as Humanity First, Federation of the Hazan Council of Australia, Grigoriadou Eirini, Model United Nations / Future Leaders Network, VIDES International, Young Canadians Changemakers Association, Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice, Quest, Global Forum for the Defense of the Less Priviledged, OIDEL, Albukhary Foundation, Nebrijamun Association, Bayan Albogami, Coletivo Antonio Flor and Pilares de una sociedad Project.
Subsequently, the Forum held its third roundtable, themed “Human rights education for, with, and by children – shaping a just and sustainable future”, in which seven students from the Ecolint school in Geneva presented projects related to human rights that they had undertaken, which addressed topics such as the human rights implications of the fast fashion industry, conflict resolution, and food waste. Several speakers representing States and civil society also took the floor in the interactive dialogue to make comments and ask the students questions.
The fourth roundtable held by the Forum was on “Human rights education for, with, and by youth – taking action to advance promotion, protection and fulfilment of all human rights for all”. Three young people gave presentations, addressing topics including human rights education through visual arts, and empowering vulnerable youth, including girls and people in conflict settings, using education. Several speakers representing States and civil society took the floor in the dialogue to make comments and ask questions.
Finally, the Forum held a roundtable presenting recommendations on the future of education and human rights. These recommendations included anchoring development in quality education, promoting fair and equitable global governance and the right to development through education, addressing the impacts of climate change on education, responsibly promoting equal access to education on digital technology, removing barriers inhibiting children’s access to education, and reforming taxation systems to promote increased investment in education.
Speaking in the dialogue were Health Educational Transformation Zimbabwe Foundation Trust, Association d'Aide à l'Education de l'Enfant Handicapé, Hib Digital and UN University for Peace. Other speakers also intervened from the floor.
The Social Forum is an annual meeting convened by the Human Rights Council. It is a unique space for open and interactive dialogue between civil society, representatives of Member States, and intergovernmental organizations, on a theme chosen by the Council each year.
Summaries of the public meetings of the Social Forum can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work and other documents related to the 2025 Social Forum can be found here.
The official dates of the 2026 Social Forum will be announced on the Forum’s website at a later date.
Roundtable on Education for Socio-Economic Rights - Participation in Socio-Economic Life, Well-Being and Care, Fair Distribution of Benefits, Resources and Opportunities
Statements by the Moderator and the Panellists
PRADEEP WAGLE, Moderator, Chief of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the roundtable would consider how education contributed to socio-economic development and promoted economic, social and cultural rights, including how it enabled humans to live a decent life and access basic services, and how it acted as a vehicle for social mobility. It would address the possibilities that education offered, and the challenges posed to it, and consider how to promote participation in socio-economic life and fairness in society. Further, it would discuss how education helped to build resilience in society.
JAMILA AL-ABBASI, Chief Executive Officer of the Women, Youth and Kids Empowerment Initiative for Sustainable Peace and Development, said in the heart of Palestine where conflict prevailed, the idea of the Women, Youth and Kids Empowerment Initiative came about during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone had to stay isolated at home. The initiative aimed to allow students in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem to learn better and improve their mental health. There was now an international and local team which supported students in conflict areas, teaching them how to deal with situations they were facing daily, including danger and emotions.
The Women, Youth and Kids Empowerment Initiative was an organization which aimed to create a world where women, youth and children thrived free from poverty and conflict, through implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. A free camp had been created to support vulnerable children affected by the conflict in Palestine, which had positive results. A human rights curriculum was being launched this term, opening the doors to hope, peace and a sustainable future for Palestine. Through the programmes, children were learning techniques to support their mental health for a better future.
MOIRA FAUL, Director of NORRAG Global Education Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute, said education was the most powerful means everyone possessed to achieve the ambitious vision set forth in the Sustainable Development Goals. From an economic and social rights perspective, education served as a transformative force, contributing directly to the realisation of just, sustainable and inclusive societies. It provided individuals with the knowledge, skills and values needed to lead meaningful, sustainable and productive lives.
Education was a major driver of global poverty reduction. Since 1980, education had accounted for 40 per cent of the decline in poverty worldwide. Investing in education, particularly in low-income contexts, was investing in healthy economic growth. It was also vital for realising comprehensive social rights. It had the profound ability to reduce inequalities by providing equal access to opportunities and resources. Education also improved health outcomes by increasing access to information, promoting healthy behaviours, and empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their health, including mental health. Furthermore, education was a key driver of gender equality, significantly improving the economic and social status of girls and women, reducing instances of child marriage, and promoting equality for all genders. In crisis settings, where the education of 234 million children was projected to be affected by conflict and crisis in 2025, equitable and inclusive education served as a cornerstone for the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus.
Achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals required mobilising the necessary resources, knowledge, evidence and collaboration to enhance education systems worldwide. This was why it was necessary to urgently address the challenges in education finance. It was necessary to amplify under-represented expertise, particularly from the Global South, listen to young people and children, and to build and sustain peace to allow for the circumstances in which all could deliver quality, equitable and accessible education. Education was the fundamental economic and social right necessary to unlock the entire Sustainable Development Goal agenda. This would help to ensure a just, sustainable and inclusive future for everyone.
TAKASHI KAJIWARA, Vice President of Education International, President of the Japan Teachers’ Union, said educators around the world became teachers because they loved children and wanted to grow alongside them. To realise quality education, educators’ voices needed to be reflected. The Japan Teacher’s Union had 200,000 members throughout Japan teaching at public and private schools. It was important to remember that education was a child’s right and should be inclusive. However, it was often exploited for political purposes. In 2023, 251 million children and youth were out of school due to war and conflict, poverty, and economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds, among other reasons. Educators in Japan strove to make schools democratic and inclusive places where children could learn from each other.
There was currently a 44 million global teacher shortage, presenting a global challenge. The teacher shortage meant teachers were unable to fully support children. This was significantly impacting students learning all over the world. It was important to allocate more funding to enhance public education and to engage in dialogue with educations unions. Governments should establish national commissions or other mechanisms to tackle shortages of adequately trained teachers. It was vital to build movements from the grassroots level, all over the world, to strengthen public education.
JEAN TWENGE, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, United States, said recent years had seen some very concerning trends in students’ academic performance globally. In the United States, children who were 13 or 14 years old had been showing improvements in their performance in math and reading until the early 2010s when those scores began to decline. This also occurred internationally, with a global decline in math, reading and science performance beginning around 2012. The major event that likely influenced this worldwide - particularly in developed nations - was widespread smartphone ownership starting around the end of 2012. Students were not using the device for school reasons or educational reasons; they were instead using it for entertainment or social communication. In countries where there was a larger increase in smartphone ownership, there was a significant decline in science and maths performance, with a much smaller decline in countries where students spent less time on devices for leisure purposes.
Students tended to do better, learn more, and be more engaged in school when they felt like they belonged there and when they felt connection to their fellow students. Most of the increase in loneliness at schools globally happened between 2012 and 2020. Very similar to the trends in academic performance, there was a larger increase in loneliness at schools in countries where students spent more time on electronic devices for leisure purposes compared to other countries.
One solution to address this issue was school policies around smartphone use by students. There was a growing consensus that the best policy was no phones during the school day, bell-to-bell. Students in the United States used their phones an average of 90 minutes a day and almost all of that use was for leisure. A bell-to-bell ban meant fewer distractions in class. This would likely have a positive effect on exam scores and on the non-academic parts of school, like lunch breaks., since it would encourage students to talk to each other face-to-face. Many principals who had instituted these types of bans reported fewer discipline issues. With a bell-to-bell ban, students would have six or seven hours a day when they learned to live and think without the phone.
SERGES KAMGA, University of Free State, South Africa, said education was the most important human right and key for human development and realising the right to development. It was essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet persons with disabilities were excluded, with the majority located in Africa. In 1893, the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated that children with disabilities should be kept at home. In Africa, children with disabilities were seen as shameful to their families and were kept at home. There were several track programmes when it came to teaching children with disabilities. However, on the ground, it was very difficult to implement inclusive education.
Several courts had mandated that students with disabilities should be in the same classrooms as students without disabilities. However, other court rulings had decided that a student who had multiple disabilities could not be in the same setting as those without disabilities.
Mr. Kamga said many schools in Africa were not equipped to welcome students with disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, no reasonable accommodation measures were made for children with disabilities to ensure their inclusion. A universal learning design needed to be adopted, which included techniques to ensure every student could access the same quality of education in the classroom. It was also critical to ensure that persons with disabilities were covered by deployers of artificial intelligence. The international community should prioritise the needs of persons with disabilities in all endeavours.
MEHMOOD ANWAR, International Liaison Officer, Humanity First, said education was a necessity. Currently, 250 million children worldwide were not attending school, and two out of three illiterate adults were women. If this social issue was not approached properly, by 2030, almost one billion people would not have the skills they needed to work and build lives for themselves.
Mr. Anwar said Humanity First had contributed to building more than 45 schools and supported hundreds of thousands of students to attend school. It had built several water wells for schools in African nations and provided skills education, which helped students discover their passions and access fulfilling lives and careers. It had also built model villages that provided sustainable housing and income streams for vulnerable persons. As one example, it had established a school in The Gambia for over 1,400 children.
Engaging local communities was important in support efforts. International organizations needed to involve local communities to identify their needs. Educational support also needed to be paired with other social services. Schools required sufficient infrastructure, such as boreholes. Keeping facilities also required ongoing funding. Further, rural areas often struggled to attract and retain qualified teachers and needed support in this regard. Mr. Anwar called on the international community to strengthen these types of support for education in vulnerable States.
Discussion
In the discussion, speakers, among other things, said education was a vital pillar for the promotion and protection of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. Education was essential for development, self-fulfilment and the realisation of many other human rights. Ensuring quality, universal and comprehensive education meant building a long-standing empowerment of people who had struggled to achieve their human rights. It opened doors for young people across the world and helped them to have a better future. Learning should do more than prepare for employment; it should foster participation, sustainability and equity. Speakers outlined their commitments to continue collective efforts to promote and safeguard social and economic rights through education.
Unfortunately, inequalities and imbalances were too often mirrored in the educational systems and perpetrated by them, some speakers said. Overcoming education obstacles was therefore integral to human development. It was important to invest in programmes which promoted awareness and encouraged participation in shaping economic, social and environmental policies. Adequate resources needed to be addressed to building more just societies, through investing in education and redirecting military spending. Education should never be seen as a luxury; it should be clear to every sector that education was a right.
Inclusive education opened the door to dignity, independence and opportunity, said a speaker, calling on all stakeholders to strengthen inclusive education, link it with health and employment opportunities, and ensure no one was left behind. If people were serious about recognising social and economic rights, education needed to be reimagined as a platform for social justice and transformative participation. Only by transforming education into a vehicle for collaboration could equity be achieved for all. One speaker underscored that those with access to education must do everything in their power to make the same opportunity a reality for everyone, everywhere. Education needed to stop being a privilege and start becoming a shared power, only at that point would humankind learn its lessons.
One speaker said girls in Afghanistan had been prevented from education with schools being closed. Silence was the acceptance of injustice; the speaker called on the United Nations and every government to take stronger actions to ensure that the women and girls of Afghanistan could return to school. They deserved freedom, education and dignity. Actions like the unilateral coercive measures and the imposition of force undermined regional stability and the achievement of human rights, another speaker said. The international community was urged to reject these actions. Children and adolescents in the territories of Colombia were affected by armed conflicts, which impacted their mental health, a speaker said. In urban schools, there were mental health programmes, but these were not present in rural schools. All institutions were invited to work together to draft information, education and communication programmes for mental health human rights.
Closing Remarks
MOIRA FAUL, Director of NORRAG Global Education Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute, said education had a role to play in preventing youth unemployment, but its effects were limited when it prioritised competition over care. Investment in international aid paled in comparison to the amount of money lost by countries due to illicit financial flows; this outflow needed to be stopped to secure more resources for the education sector. Education should not be blamed for all societal weaknesses; all sectors needed to contribute to the development of the next generation.
TAKASHI KAJIWARA, Vice President of Education International, President of the Japan Teachers’ Union, said it was important to make it easier for frontline teachers to carry out their activities. Children and young people needed to be at the centre of institutional design in the education sector. Educators’ unions globally would continue to work to guarantee access to education as a fundamental right.
SERGES KAMGA, University of Free State, South Africa, said youth with disabilities needed to be addressed in budgeting systems for education. This did not happen systematically in many countries, which inhibited persons with disabilities in education and later life. When deploying artificial intelligence for inclusive education, there was a need to consult with organizations of persons with disabilities to ensure that their needs were addressed.
MEHMOOD ANWAR, International Liaison Officer, Humanity First, said mixed funding was needed for education, so education systems did not rely on just one resource. Civil society organizations supported governments in this regard, reaching areas that they could not. Rural schools needed to be allowed to identify their own needs, and minority groups needed to be included in decisions on education and related social services.
Roundtable on Education for Political Rights – Participation, Citizenship and Voice
Statements by the Panellists
CLAUDIA FLORES, Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, said over recent decades, the world had made undeniable progress in expanding educational access. Yet, gender remained one of the strongest determinants of who received a quality education. When girls were denied an education, they were denied a voice. When women were excluded from learning, they were excluded from leading. Today, the world was witnessing a troubling resurgence of efforts to restrict women’s and girls’ access to education. The rise of authoritarian, nationalist and fundamentalist actors, inside and outside Government, had serious consequences for human rights and gender equality.
Across regions, the Working Group had seen attempts to limit comprehensive sexuality education, to close gender studies programmes that interrogated the structural causes of inequality, and even to prohibit any discussion of gender altogether. In consultations with young women and girls across regions, they spoke of being discouraged from speaking out, of brothers’ schooling being prioritised, and of the heavy and unequal care burdens that limited their ability to study and engage in community life. These dynamics were rooted in gendered expectations and unequal power relations within the household.
Equal access to inclusive, quality education, combined with curricula that taught human rights and challenged the harmful stereotypes that limited girls’ possibilities, would be revolutionary. Gender equality and gender-sensitive education in schools fostered literacy and skills, as well as critical thinking, problem-solving, solidarity and empowerment. Comprehensive sexuality education, grounded in science and human rights, empowered young women to take control of their reproductive and family life and dismantle the taboos that sustained gender-based discrimination and inequality.
The Working Group remained committed to supporting States and stakeholders in advancing gender equality in and through education, including through the CREATE Framework, a practical tool offering a holistic and inclusive pathway to ensuring that women could enjoy the full extent of their human rights and fundamental freedoms in every area of their lives. Expanding the right to education for everyone everywhere, was not only an investment in the empowerment of women and girls, but in the equality, stability and future of our shared humanity.
DELPHINE DORSI, Director of the Right to Education Initiative, said the right to participate in political life and public affairs was of fundamental importance for the development of sustainable, inclusive and peaceful societies. When they exercised the various dimensions of this right, individuals contributed to the organization and development of the societies they lived in. However, despite the fundamental importance of the right to participate in political life and public affairs, it was far from being fully realised, particularly for marginalised groups, which also experienced difficulties in accessing education. Education played an enabling role for the exercise of the right to participate in political life and public affairs.
Inequalities and discrimination in access to and participation in education hindered the effective exercise of political rights. Illiteracy was a barrier to exercise the right to vote. Gender inequality and gender stereotypes that were prevalent in the education system prevented women from envisioning themselves assuming a decision-making role. The barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing inclusive education compromised their opportunities and undermined their capacities to be involved in public decision-making. Further, some privileged groups were overrepresented in higher education systems, while underprivileged groups faced numerous discriminations.
To participate effectively, children needed to be trained in listening, working jointly with other children, organising meetings, fundraising, media relations, public speaking, and advocacy. Civic education programmes in schools and beyond needed to be developed with targeted programmes for marginalised individuals and groups addressing illiteracy, language and cultural barriers, media education and digital literacy. Children’s participation in school, including in student councils, needed to be encouraged and facilitated. Children and young people could also participate in political life through local youth parliaments and councils, in the development of international law and policies, and in monitoring and reporting processes. Marginalised children, including both girls and boys, needed to be involved in these processes. It was also essential to address persistent inequalities and discrimination in access to and participation in all levels of education.
Participation in political life and public affairs was needed for the realisation of the right to education. This could be achieved through the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of laws and policies related to education.
HENRIETTE REIERSON JOHNSTONE, President of the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund, said education was a vital tool for liberation. It shaped how people saw the world, and gave them the tools to question their realities and imagine a rights-based world. Student activism was a vehicle for learning, not a barrier to it. Authoritarian regimes viewed higher education communities as threats, and students globally were increasingly facing repression and reprisals from authorities.
Students were continuing to fight for human rights around the world, using their civic rights to speak up and challenge ongoing structures. This was evident in student efforts to protest the crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which had been met by harsh crackdowns, including in States that portrayed themselves as democratic. When authorities silenced student dissent, they undermined the very rights that sustained civic engagement. Urgent protection mechanisms for at-risk activists were needed.
States bore the responsibility to protect and respect human rights, but they often failed. This was why universities had an obligation to protect students, but in oppressive circumstances, universities often served as extensions of the State. There needed to be stronger legal protections for frontline activists. Educational equity needed to be ensured, and spaces of free thought and debate needed to be fostered in universities. The international community needed to stand united in condemning attacks on students and protecting students from such attacks. The Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom offered a roadmap for practical action for safeguarding education. Now was not the time for silence or hesitation. It was time to trust the power, imagination and rage of students to build a better world.
GERARD KAMGA, University of the Free State, South Africa, said it was important to ensure that education was equal and inclusive. Gender and disability were two of the most pervasive and intersecting barriers to achieving this goal. Primarily, it was crucial to understand the dual role of education. An education which taught critical thinking and was designed for everyone became a powerful catalyst for equality. In many low- and middle-income countries, less than 10 per cent of women with a disability were literate. Girls with disabilities were among the most educationally marginalised globally, with lower literacy rates, compared to boys with disabilities and their non-disability peers.
Globally, children with disabilities were among the most marginalised and excluded from education, as a result of a system which made them invisible. At the economic level, girls were often kept home for domestic work, or forced into child marriage. There was also a perception in some cultures that educating girls was unnecessary. The threat of violence on the way to school and within school premises remained a major issue, as well as ensuring separate and safe sanitation facilities. The consequences of these exclusions were the denial of personal development, self-confidence and future economic independence on an individual level; and on a societal level, this was the loss of potential talent, innovation and leadership. When a child was excluded due to their gender or disability, this was not just harming one child but depriving communities of their unique potential. Mr. Kamga said several actions could be taken to rectify this situation, including ensuring inclusive access to artificial intelligence technology, as well as equipping all teachers with the necessary pedagogical and other skills.
Interactive Dialogue
In the dialogue, speakers, among other things, said learning empowered students to live with dignity and hope. Denying the right to learn meant denying knowledge that was needed to participate in society. Education empowered citizens to understand their rights, engage in decision making, and shape their future. It empowered people to shake the systems that governed them, and helped to lift people out of poverty.
Continued investment in education was needed to support democratic participation, some speakers said. Gaps in access to equitable education needed to be identified and disparities linked to geography and socioeconomic status must be addressed, particularly in the Global South. The international community also needed to make human rights education a priority, particularly in developing countries.
Several speakers addressed the importance of supporting youth’s participation in civic education. The young generation was calling to be included and empowered; to participate actively to contribute to a more just and peaceful world. Too often, education systems addressed children as objects to be shaped rather than subjects with rights. One speaker said youth did not feel represented in public life. Only 2.8 per cent of the world’s parliamentarians were under 30, and women under 30 made up only 1.4 per cent. Inclusion in civic education would enable youth to take meaningful action on issues that affected their lives most.
One speaker said respecting parental rights in education allowed every child to receive education that respected their cultural contexts. All families needed to be supported to exercise their freedom of choice regarding the education that their children received, the speaker said.
Some speakers raised concerns about systemic discrimination in education against girls, including girls from minority religious and ethnic groups, which contributed to their exclusion from education. There needed to be safe access guarantees and teacher training on religious and gender sensitivity to address this discrimination. Some speakers noted with concern that girls and young women had been excluded from digital education, and that cyber bullying and privacy threats turned digital spaces into spaces of fear for some girls and women. The international community needed to invest in programmes that supported girls to access and use safe digital tools.
One speaker expressed concern that the war in Afghanistan had excluded women and girls from education for decades. This was a crime against humanity that required global recognition. For Afghanistan to rebuild, it required a governance system founded in equality, human rights, justice and education.
Speakers presented measures promoting human rights, social rights, political rights education, critical thinking, and leadership skills; ensuring the safety of schools; promoting disadvantaged children’s attendance in schools; and encouraging access to e-learning. One speaker said that they had presented a resolution to the Human Rights Council that proposed that the sixth session of the Forum for Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law would have the theme “education for civic participation”.
Closing Remarks
DELPHINE DORSI, Director of the Right to Education Initiative, said everyone clearly agreed on the importance of education as a foundational right for the enjoyment of other rights, including democracy, social justice and peace. Unfortunately, the world was far from achieving full enjoyment of the right to education. It was not just access to education which mattered, but also its content. Schools of democracy where children could participate from an early age were fundamental in building up democratic societies. It was encouraging to see so many young people bringing their voices and imaginative and creative solutions to the table. Action was another form of participating; young people could communicate and participate in other ways.
HENRIETTE REIERSON JOHNSTONE, President of the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund, said students challenged power. Young people were not just the future of human rights, they were the present, leading bold intersectional movements for justice. Too often it came at the cost of arrests and reprisals. Under law, States had an obligation to promote and protect human rights for all. Concrete legal protections, meaningful inclusion and sustained support for student and youth-led movements were needed. Young people and students were not just future leaders but rights holders, human rights defenders and citizens of today.
GERARD KAMGA, University of the Free State, South Africa, said building a system that was totally inclusive for girls and children with disabilities was one of the most significant challenges of our time. It required political will, teacher training and political mobilisation. Mr. Kamga urged all to be the generation that closed the gap between the promise of education as a human right and the reality of every single child.
Roundtable on Human Rights Education for, with, and by Children – Shaping a just and sustainable future
Statements by the Moderator and Child Panellists
ANITA PIPAN, Moderator, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, said human rights education was more than just a subject; it was a mindset, a movement and a shared responsibility. Human rights education helped foster a sense of our common humanity and empower young people to be active agents of change. Education was one of the most powerful tools. With this in mind, the Human Rights Council and a core group of States had launched the fifth phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education, dedicated to children and youth. It addressed critical challenges, including gender equality, digital technologies and human rights, and the environment and climate change. The roundtable today would feature student groups from Ecolint school that had developed academic projects reflecting the three thematic priorities of the fifth phase.
LILY MASARO, Ecolint student, introduced “9iNNOVATE”, a student-led initiative she had participated in that encouraged ninth grade students to engage with some of the world’s most pressing challenges through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over several weeks, students worked in teams to research a global issue and designed an innovative local response. Each challenge was set by an external expert working directly in that field from the United Nations, a non-governmental organization, or a humanitarian organization. Students responded to real-world problems, guided by people who were actively seeking solutions. The project pushed them to think critically, collaborate creatively, and see themselves as young global citizens capable of contributing to real change.
Ms. Masaro said the project completely changed how she understood her role in the world. She realised that promoting human rights and sustainability was about taking meaningful action, through small steps, in one’s own community. Knowing that her ideas could make a difference inspired her to think more deeply, work together more effectively, and take responsibility for the difference she could make. Ensuring that every person could live with dignity, equality and opportunity depended on how all cared for both people and the planet.
MALAIKA SERENA and DERECK HOUBEN YOKOTA, Ecolint students, said exploitation, inequality, and even human rights abuses were realities of fast fashion. Fast fashion was not only an environmental crisis, but also a gender equality and human rights issue. The fashion industry produced over 100 billion garments every year. Many were worn only a handful of times before being discarded, creating devastating consequences for the planet - from polluted rivers used for dyeing fabrics, to textile waste piling up in landfills, to massive carbon emissions from production and transport.
Around 80 per cent of garment workers were women, often in countries such as Bangladesh, Viet Nam or Cambodia. Many worked long shifts in unsafe factories, earning wages far below what was needed to support their families. They were often denied maternity leave or union rights. Some faced harassment or abuse at work yet had no voice to protest. Children were also part of this chain - in some regions, child labour still existed in cotton fields and small workshops, robbing children of their right to education and a safe childhood. The 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, where over 1,100 workers - most of them women - died when a factory collapsed, remained a painful reminder of the human cost of cheap clothing.
Addressing fast fashion was not only about global supply chains, but was also about what could be done in our own communities. In Geneva, many women and children arrived as refugees from conflict zones, often with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Local organizations like Emmaüs and the Salvation Army collected and resold clothes at affordable prices, using the proceeds to support people in need. The students said that their “9iNNOVATE” group had been contributing by organising clothing collections, encouraging people to give clothes a second life. Donations helped reduce textile waste and supported women and children who needed it most.
Reusing was helpful, but the real solution was to reduce the amount everyone bought and rethink how clothes were made. Every garment had a story, and people could choose what kind of story they wanted it to tell. Young people could not always control the current global fashion industry but could shape its future. By refusing to see clothes as disposable, by supporting local charities, and by recognising the dignity of every worker, every refugee, and every child, they could help weave a story of equality, justice and human rights - one choice, one garment, one action at a time.
ROSA STRANGER-JONES and ALEXANDRA OLHAGEN, Ecolint students, said every day, around 40,000 people worldwide were driven from their homes by conflict. Many were women and children. Around the world, conflict destroyed lives and divided communities with fear and violence. Wars forced families to flee; schools were ruined; education was disrupted; and in every conflict, women and children suffered most. In war, basic human rights to safety, education, health and dignity vanished. For girls, inequality deepened: they were more likely to lose access to school, more vulnerable to exploitation, and their voices were silenced. Conflict resolution was about rebuilding trust, finding peaceful solutions that protected human rights, and ensuring that every person, regardless of gender, had the opportunity to live a safe and meaningful life. The responsibility for creating peace belonged to everyone - governments, organizations, communities and individuals.
The students said they had organised a project to support people affected by conflicts. In this, they first asked their community to donate items for refugees who had fled conflict zones. They collected everyday items for hygiene, clothing, and cooking, small things that restored dignity and normalcy. Next, they sold oranges to support Terre des Hommes, a charity that helped children whose lives had been torn apart by war - giving them shelter, education and healthcare. Each orange sold represented solidarity, and each franc raised supported a child’s future. Each act of giving showed that young people were not powerless.
Peace and equality were not abstract ideas. They were built step by step, through local actions that connected to global struggles. Every person could contribute through volunteering, donating, or simply raising awareness. When persons acted with compassion, they were already shaping a more peaceful world. Peace was not the absence of war - it was the presence of justice, equality and human dignity. Peace began with action, and that action began with us.
EMILIA IRIS RIISAGER and JOSHUA LALAZ, Ecolint students, said one third of all the food produced in the world was never eaten. That were 1.3 billion tonnes of food every year - enough to feed two billion people. Food waste was a silent disaster. When people wasted food, they wasted the water that grew the crops, the forests cleared for farmland, the fuel burned to transport it, and all the emissions created to produce it. Globally, food waste accounted for about 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Every apple and sandwich tossed into the bin quietly added to the climate crisis. Yet while mountains of food were wasted, more than 800 million people went to bed hungry each night. Those who contributed least to climate change suffered the most from its impacts. Food waste was a powerful example of inequality.
The students said that they had explored how their community could fight against food waste in Geneva and in the canton of Vaud. They collaborated with two local partners: “The Lost Food Project”, which collected unsold food and redistributed it to people who needed it in the neighbourhoods of Geneva; and “Partage”, a charity that organised food drives throughout the city, helping thousands of people in Geneva to access food aid. Collaborating with these organizations had shown the students that local action was essential. They had helped prevent waste, supported the right to food, and learned that redistribution was a source of dignity and sustainability. Every meal saved in Geneva was one less meal that rotted in a landfill. Every shared meal reminded that food was not a privilege, but a right. These projects were directly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The experience had taught the students that they were not powerless. They did not need to wait for governments or companies to act. Change could begin in their schools, their stores, and even in their own kitchens. These projects had encouraged change and inspired others to do the same in their own communities. Reducing food waste was a small step with enormous consequences: for the planet, for communities, and for the future. If everyone acted together, every meal saved became a victory for people, the planet and our shared future.
Interactive Dialogue
In the interactive dialogue, speakers, among other things, thanked the students for their presentations and congratulated them for participating in the Forum. It was a joy to hear the three projects they had been working on, under the framework of creating a better world through education. One speaker felt deep admiration for the students. Their research meant there were still people who were genuinely curious. These experiences would be more fulfilling than grades. It was pleasing to see the sense of collaboration and cooperation. The students’ powerful messages had sent a serious and deep message to everyone in the room.
Speakers asked the students how human rights education could be integrated further into their projects? How did the panellists perceive their human rights in their school environment? Did they have the power to influence decisions within their school? What would the students recommend that Governments do to ensure that human rights education was integrated in schools? What would be a call to action for Governments? What would the students like to teach future youth about human rights advocacy with their experience? Hundreds of millions of children around the world did not have access to school due to numerous biases; what message did the panellists want to send to States? How did the students feel, knowing that they had done something concrete that had a value on others? What was their message to the girls who could not go to school in Afghanistan?
In response, one of the students said they felt their voices were heard at their school. There were a lot of opportunities to express their opinions, another speaker said, and a lot of experiences were provided at school to allow for critical thinking. From the national perspective, it was clear that human rights could be a game changer, in classrooms, homes and communities, going to the global level. Planting the seeds of change needed to start at the grassroots level. For this reason, human rights education was a necessity. Regarding advocacy for younger students, many actions started out small but if a lot of people did the same, they made a difference. Carrying out actions which had tangible effects and understanding how they linked to world issues was very motivating. A speaker said she stood with the Afghan girls deprived of their basic right to education, and would do everything possible to get them back into schools.
Closing Remarks
ANITA PIPAN, Moderator, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, said the roundtable had been inspiring. The students had delivered important messages. She expressed thanks to the students and all those who had supported them. Integrating children into all fora, including the Social Forum, was crucial to shaping a more inclusive present and future.
Roundtable on Human Rights Education for, with, and by Youth – Taking Action to Advance Promotion, Protection and Fulfilment of All Human Rights for All
Statements by the Moderator and the Panellists
ELISA GAZZOTI, Moderator, Amnesty International, said this roundtable would outline the significance of human rights education for, with and by youth as essential to the full realisation of all human rights; recognise youth as key actors in designing and evaluating human rights programmes; and explore how youth were using human rights education to promote and protect human rights in different contexts. This would hopefully inspire everyone to take action through human rights education. The session would hear from three young human rights educators and activists, featured in the “Changemakers multimedia tool” which focused on the stories of seven young human rights educators and activists around the world.
AIZAT RUSLANOVA, young person from Kyrgyzstan, said she was a human rights activist and educator who used film and visual images to address “hard topics” like violence, stigma and silence. She worked with visual art. Together with her sister, she had created the installation “Hands of Violence,” a small dark room where 40 painted male hands seemed to move toward the viewer that was shown during the “16 Days Against Violence” campaign. Many women left in tears because they finally “saw” what was often invisible and could name their experience. Ms. Ruslanova said the idea came after the 8 March street action, when she was detained. This experience showed her how art could turn isolation into solidarity and silence into a public conversation. This work was first about girls. Art gave them a voice and gave adults tools to hear and support them.
Ms. Ruslanova said she had co-authored a human rights course for schoolteachers with an international human rights organization, which included real stories about bullying, early marriage, the vulnerability of girls online and offline, and stigma against minorities. After this course, teachers reported having more confidence to lead difficult talks, classrooms showed more respectful dialogue and student participation, and young people were more aware of help routes.
Ms. Ruslanova said she was looking for partnerships to develop common standards for ethical facilitation of “hard conversations,” and simple tools to measure impact. Art did not replace conventions and laws, but it helped everyone understand the purpose of those norms. When screenings taught girls where to go for help, and encouraged teachers to feel that they were not alone, this showed that education through art worked.
ANDRÉS ALLÁN SÁNCHEZ OSORIO, young person from Mexico and Panama, said inequality was a system that defined who had access to safety, education and justice, and who was denied it. There were currently 1.8 billion people in the world aged between 10 and 24 - and over 90 per cent lived in developing countries. This generation carried extraordinary potential, but it also bore the weight of structural inequality, particularly in access to education and opportunities.
For years, Mr. Sánchez Osorio said he had worked with adolescents who were survivors of serious crimes, and children living without parental care and in communities marked by poverty and high social violence. These were young people who had been told—directly or indirectly—that their lives mattered less. Mr. Sánchez Osorio said he had witnessed young people reclaim their narratives, question authority, and organise to demand accountability from institutions that had long ignored them.
Poverty, gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality and territory interacted in ways that compounded exclusion. A programme that ignored these intersections risked reproducing the same inequalities it sought to challenge. Youth needed to define what “human rights” meant in their own realities. The international community also needed to invest in community-based and youth-led initiatives in shelters, detention centres, informal settlements, and digital spaces. Human rights education should not be seen as charity, but as a political act that strengthened democracy, challenged impunity, and rebuilt social trust.
Globally, the world was witnessing serious setbacks in human rights. There was growing contempt for the international human rights frameworks, and the consequences were visible. The failure to integrate human rights into both formal and informal education had left a vacuum - one that was now shaping entire generations. Across Latin America, for example, adolescent boys and young men - abandoned by systems without access to mental health care or gender-sensitive policies - were finding belonging in the only spaces that welcomed them: organised crime groups, online hate movements, and anti-gender groups. This was a symptom of educational and institutional neglect. Today, the world faced a profound human rights crisis. If they wanted to change that, they needed to start by educating differently.
Human rights education could not remain a promise - it needed to become policy and be implemented urgently. Empowering one young person to understand their rights could ignite a chain reaction that transformed entire communities. The international community needed to invest in that transformation and make education in human rights not a privilege for the few, but a foundation for all.
DEJANA STOSIC, young person from Serbia, said with everything currently happening in the world, especially in Gaza, it felt like human rights were just a theory, empty words on paper that nobody respected. Ms. Stosic said she came from Serbia, which was a country that on paper had strong laws to protect women and ensure equality. But in practice, those laws collapsed every day. This was evident through an institutionalised disregard toward sexual violence and femicide. For instance, a man had used a bat to smash a girl’s jaw and yet he was pardoned by the Serbian President. All over the world, the system protected the abuser and punished the survivor. If people did not stand up for their rights now, they might be lost entirely. Feminism gave women and girls the freedom to study, to speak, and to exist as almost equals. And today they were hearing that feminism was not needed? No, feminism was the reason some women were free and why she was able to stand here today.
When young people were educated about human rights, they were given the language to resist. Over the past year, young people had taken to the streets demanding accountability, a better future and the end of wars. Many of them were arrested, beaten and silenced for defending their rights, and for demanding dignity, democracy and justice. These were the same young people who were supposed to be protected by those “good laws.” There did not need to be more laws; laws needed to be respected. There needed to be education that empowered young people not to wait for permission, but to build a society that actually reflected the values written in constitutions and conventions. Human rights should be taught not as a subject, but as a means of survival. Because while human rights existed only on paper, the work was not done. Fighting for human rights meant fighting for democracy first. Without democracy and gender equality, violence could not be meaningfully addressed.
Interactive Dialogue
In the interactive dialogue, speakers, among other things, thanked the young panellists for their interventions. One speaker asked if the rights of the youngest children were protected when they went into day care and were separated from their mothers? It was important to respect the rights of the youngest; what were the panellists’ thoughts on this? In advancing human rights education for youth, how could education models foster radical youth-led experimentation? How could the future of education be shaped to empower young people as defenders of human rights, particularly in countries like Afghanistan, where education remained under threat?
In response, the panellists said they would like to learn how to make a better future for the youngest children. Human rights education should start at a young age, particularly concerning bodily autonomy. Peer to peer education was important. Programmes should be led by youth, for youth, and should be delivered in the language spoken by the youth, including slang and jokes. This could build a safe place with peers to foster discussions. It was important to listen to the voices of those in conflict affected situations to help them with what they needed. Adolescents and young people needed to learn about the human rights framework and understand how it operated. Some international organizations had developed tools to help teach young people how to train others on human rights.
Closing Remarks
ELISA GAZZOTI, Moderator, Amnesty International, said the dialogue reminded everyone that human rights were about people. Human rights education was not a luxury, but a necessity for equality and peace. Defending human rights needed to be a daily act of solidarity and resistance.
Roundtable on Recommendations: The Future of Education for Human Rights
Opening Statements
FARIDA SHAHEED, Moderator, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, said the Social Forum’s session had been timely and thought-provoking, illustrating the transversal nature of the right to education and the indivisibility of all human rights. The closing roundtable would consider how to ensure that the practice of education lived up to the demands of the fundamental right to education, how to ensure a human rights-based approach to education and empower communities to shape their own futures, and how global and national governance frameworks needed to change to support this.
OUATTARA DIAKALIA, Community Development Activist, Member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, and Member of the African Social Forum, referenced a Burkinabe Professor, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, who said that education was the software of the central unit of the computer that programmed the future of nations. Mr. Diakalia also referenced the President of South Korea, who said that South Korea went from being a recipient of official development assistance to a recipient of aid through education-based development. These examples showed that education was the epicentre of everything. Thanks to education, there was well-trained human capital that was well equipped to meet the challenges of development, including community development.
Community development was understood as development at the grassroots. It needed to be based on education that was lifelong, determining how the individuals understood themselves, how they acted in relation to the environment, and how they respected human rights. Community development was anchored in quality education, when there was a balanced society, composed of capable and responsible men and women in positions of leadership. Mr. Diakalia provided several examples, including the Debt Reduction and Development Contract, signed between France and Côte d'Ivoire, which had extensive involvement from civil society
MIHIR KANADE, Member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, Professor of International Law, and Director of the Human Rights Centre at the University for Peace, said the discussion was at the heart of the United Nations vision for a just and more inclusive world. As a time of profound global uncertainty, our education systems bore specific responsibilities as the foundations of our shared futures. Education equipped learners to connect the principles of peace, human rights and sustainability.
Persistent gaps remained - access to quality education remained uneven across States and regions. In an era of hyper-nationalism, the international community needed to acknowledge that global challenges required global solutions. Current models of global governance, however, could limit the policy spaces of States to realise their right to development. There were national reasons for issues such as corruption and insufficient budgets for education and health. However, the International Monetary Fund also could have imposed conditionalities on the States that forced them to reduce social spending and lower the salaries of civil servants, which contributed to these issues.
Global governance needed to be mainstreamed across all levels of formal and informal learning. This included a decolonised approach to teaching human rights that paid attention to non-Eurocentric human rights norms such as the right to development and the right to peace. Teachers and educators needed to be equipped with the resources and training to integrate the complexities of global governance into classrooms, and to teach about the benefits of cooperation, dialogue and empathy. Partnerships between universities, United Nations bodies, and civil society networks were also needed to empower young people to act as agents in global decision-making, especially for learners from minority backgrounds. Financing, especially through international cooperation, was also key to rebuilding societies fractured by misunderstanding and violence. There was no better way to prepare for peace than through education.
WHITNEY MÉLINARD, President of Kopounoule Inc., said education was failing its most fundamental test; ensuring all children, not just some, could enjoy quality education today. Currently, education was profoundly unequal. Urban students enjoyed diverse opportunities while rural and indigenous youth faced systemic barriers. Girls in some regions fought for their education which boys received freely. Students were learning about climate change as if it was approaching, but they were living it every day. Education could be the foundation in which justice was built. Ms. Mélinard acknowledged the Rhode scholars from the Caribbean region, and indigenous peoples in the region who had just gone through Hurricane Melisa. There was nothing natural about the disasters they were facing; these were a direct consequence of human interference with nature. These people were calling for peace and for consideration of the environment and for accountability.
Countries with higher emissions had a greater responsibility to support education systems in vulnerable areas, including by rebuilding schools and covering tuition and other costs, so every child could access schooling. Every child must be able to use education to realise their own dreams. Education for intergenerational equity needed to be sensitive and emerge from the lived experiences of the people. Ms. Mélinard challenged the audience to take meaningful action in their communities and ensure all voices were heard in decision-making processes. It needed to be ensured that the future generations did not inherit our crisis, but our courage and strength.
XIGEN WANG, Dean of the Law School, and Director of the National Human Rights Education and Training Base at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, said he was promoting equal rights to education and working to address challenges in this regard related to technology. Access to generative artificial intelligence was currently limited to certain regions. Such technology needed to be inclusive. In addition, one-third of the world did not have access to the internet; this needed to be addressed. The world also needed programmes promoting digital literacy.
There needed to be legislation on artificial intelligence that ensured that it could enhance education. Legislation needed to clarify the rights and obligations of teachers, schools and societies in this regard. A range of tools needed to be used, and laws and action plans needed to be developed that promoted the right to digital education. Digital technologies also needed to be addressed in international legislation. Mr. Wang called on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to draft a general comment on the use of artificial intelligence for education, which could promote equitable access to this technology.
The international community needed to take effective measures to implement the Global Digital Compact and increase the proportion of official development assistance dedicated to digital and technical assistance. Schools needed to provide students with compulsory artificial intelligence education, and artificial intelligence needed to be implemented in lifelong learning.
SITARA BROOJ AKBAR, Activist from Pakistan, said for countless children around the world, the readiness to learn was met not with opportunities, but with obstacles. Some children were kept out of school due to poverty. Others were forced into child labour or prevented from accessing education due to gender inequality. In 2018, nations made pledges at the Global Compact on Refugees to enrol displaced children in education within three months, but the reality on the ground was starkly different. It was in these situations that alternative and flexible education opportunities offered hope, and could help those learners who had missed years of schooling. However, too often these programmes were disconnected from national programmes and learning remained invisible.
Governments could easily remove legal and administrative hurdles which kept children out of schools for years, as seen in the European Union regarding children from Ukraine. Nations could support flexible enrolment and ensure non-traditional learning pathways were funded. It was important to build education systems which met out of school children where they were, not where bureaucracy expected them to be. These projects demanded long-term funding because the right to education was an investment. The courage to try for every out of school child and those working towards their future was the world’s most powerful form of human capital.
CAROLINA FINNETE, Researcher and Advocate, Tax Justice Network, said she had witnessed the impact of underfunding on education. Education continued to be underfunded; developing countries were experiencing a large funding gap in education. At least 37 per cent of countries were not able to meet international benchmarks related to education financing and these countries were sinking deeper and deeper into sovereign debt. This funding gap disproportionately affected marginalised groups.
Some 95 per cent of education budgets were coming from domestic sources such as taxes. It was necessary to progressively transform tax systems and the global financial architecture. Countries with limited resources needed to be supported to increase the share of resources they devoted to education.
Last year, some 492 billion United States dollars in tax revenues were lost due to tax evasion by wealthier individuals and corporations. The Spanish taxation model, if applied globally, could allow for two trillion United States dollars per year being allocated towards public services. This would cover more than the total amount needed to reach education funding targets.
The international community needed to ensure that States devoted 15 to 20 per cent of gross domestic product to education; that Governments implemented tax reforms to prevent tax evasion and tackle tax havens; and that States addressed the debt crisis by restructuring and cancelling debt. International institutions such as the International Monetary Fund needed to revisit public sector wage constraints that were limiting teacher recruitment and undermining education. Countries needed to have the political courage to prioritise human rights provisions.
FARIDA SHAHEED, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, said some of the key takeaways from the panellists were that there was a need to decolonise curricula so that they were no longer Eurocentric or market centric. Educators at all levels needed to be supported to deliver quality learner centric education. Teachers also needed autonomy, and it must be ensured that all teachers everywhere had an orientation in human rights. There was a need for alternative, flexible and non-formal education programmes, which provided creative solutions. There were opportunities and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, yet more than one third of the world’s people were not connected to the internet at all. Data should not be mined without consent and markets and profits should not determine the shape of education. Digital technology could not bring children into school or address basic literacy rate. Artificial intelligence had a huge impact on the climate due to the vast amount of water it used.
There needed to be long-term and secure budgets to ensure education could thrive. The transformation of education pivoted on the desire of a chosen future. It was important to ensure that human rights were anchored in the economy. Human rights should be the anchor of economic policies. Education should equip people to understand the dynamics at play in their lives, make informed choices, and exercise autonomy. All education should be grounded in the scaffolding of human rights. Ms. Saheed said youth were critical changemakers for today and the future. They needed to feel safe to think and express creatively, and to think outside the box. Formal channels needed to be provided for their inclusion. To deliver the right to education was essentially the responsibility of States.
Interactive Dialogue
In the interactive dialogue, speakers, among other things, said the future lay in the hands of young people, and understanding of the issues that young people faced needed to be at the heart of education. Young people needed to access education that they could use to foster change. One speaker said youth had made informative statements throughout the Social Forum on a variety of issues. They had shown how central the voice of youth was in efforts to build a sustainable future and implement the right to development.
One speaker said a multi-sectoral and multi-agency approach was needed to ensure that the situation of persons with disabilities was taken into account in education. Another speaker said human rights education needed to include the most marginalised, and teachers and students needed to be provided with sufficient resources to implement this education, which supported peaceful, inclusive societies.
Speakers presented efforts to promote the right to education for persons with disabilities and women; promote access to vocational training, particularly training that promoted digital skills; support marginalised young people to access education; promote human rights education; and promote research into sustainable development, environmental transition, dialogue and collective responsibility, particularly in the Global South.
Closing Remarks for the Roundtable
MIHIR KANADE, Member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, Professor of International Law, and Director of the Human Rights Centre at the University for Peace, said one of the key messages of the Forum was the need for an enabling national environment for education. All participants should take a look at the alphabetical targets under Sustainable Development Goal four, which were the means for implementing the numerical targets. These were based on the need for international cooperation, and a lot more needed to be done to build on this.
SITARA BROOJ AKBAR, Activist from Pakistan, said education was about hope and courage. It was the passport to freedom and the courage to believe in dreams. Ms. Akbar hoped everyone could leave the Forum more hopeful than when they came in.
CAROLINA FINNETE, Researcher and Advocate, Tax Justice Network, said there was shrinking space for civil society, and this impact was felt in the human rights mechanisms. It was necessary to think about the finance and join this side of the conversation. It was not just for the experts; everyone should feel empowered to talk about it. There needed to be a financial architecture which put people first, not profit.
WHITNEY MÉLINARD, President of Kopounoule Inc., said during the Forum, she had met people doing extraordinary things. It was hoped that everyone would continue to support each other and continue with concrete actions and reforms prioritising climate justice and educational equity, ensuring the most marginalised voices shaped the decisions which affected them. Education needed to be decolonised, actionable and made accountable to justice.
Closing Remarks for the 2025 Session of the Social Forum
ANITA PIPAN, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, said this year’s Social Forum had shown the strength of dialogue and the power of ideas. All speakers in the Forum had one united conviction that education was not a privilege but a right and a shared responsibility. Education allowed people to bridge divides and gave every person the power to shape their own destiny. Education needed to be protected everywhere, including in conflict situations. States needed to heavily invest in education politically, morally and financially. Ms. Pipan said that she would leave the Forum determined to make education a living force for equality, peace and empowerment, working with and for children and youth. Education was a passport to the future. Ms. Pipan closed by thanking all participants and persons who had facilitated the Forum.
CARLOS SORRETA, Co-Chair Rapporteur of the Social Forum, said significant passion had been shown by all participants. The Social Forum was an inclusive space for dialogue and collective reflection. This year’s Forum had brought together voices rarely heard in multilateral fora, from children and students to academics, philosophers, and young activists.
The Keynote Panel had deepened understanding of education as a human right and as an enabler of all rights. It showed that education enabled individuals to realise their fullest potential, exercise agency, challenge injustices, and participate fully and equally in efforts to build just and sustainable communities. Education was the best investment States could make because its returns were immeasurable, yet education systems around the world were suffering from chronic underfunding. There had also been a sharp increase in attacks on education, as well as censorship and erosion of academic freedom. The roundtable reminded that, with 272 million young people out of school and a shortfall of 44 million teachers by 2030, the world was far from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The roundtable on education for civil and cultural rights underscored the unparalleled potential of education to dismantle systemic and intersectional barriers linked to gender, disability, religion and class. It showed that education anchored on human rights helped affirm our common humanity.
The roundtables on education for economic and political rights delved into education as a driver for social mobility, equality and empowerment. They showed that well-funded education systems were essential for realising the rights to decent work, health and social security. They also discussed how students and the young had stood at the forefronts of political movements, championing reforms when institutions failed.
The roundtables on human rights education for, with, and by children and youth were inspiring, highlighting that children and young people were not passive beneficiaries of education but agents of change.
The final roundtable on the future of education for human rights consolidated these insights into broad recommendations to put inclusive and quality education at the heart of public policy and global governance, make human rights education a lifelong process, harness digital technologies responsibly, invest adequately in education, and strengthen international cooperation for education, peace and sustainable development, bearing in mind the rights of present and future generations.
Mr. Sorreta thanked all who had contributed to the Forum and closed by calling on all parties to use human rights and education to shape a fairer, freer and more sustainable world for all.
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Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
HRC25.016E