Geneva, 30th October 2025 – At the 2025 UN Human Rights Council Social Forum, which this year focused on the contribution of education to the respect, promotion, protection and fulfilment of all human rights for all, the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO, and the University of Geneva – together with the journals Frontiers in Education and L’Éducation en débats – convened an expert roundtable on Enhancing the Right to Education: Emerging Challenges and Enabling Factors. Building on the 2024 dialogue on inequalities in privatization, digitalization and crisis situations, the multistakeholder platform proved the importance of multilateralism.
Organized as an official side event of the Social Forum, with the co-sponsorship by the Swiss Commission and Frontiers, the roundtable gathered experts, scholars and diplomats for an open dialogue on how education can better serve as a foundation for the realization of all human rights. Framed by the launch of two special journal issues – Frontiers in Education and L’éducation en débats, engaging Anglophone and Francophone experts respectively – it examined how accelerating technological change, persistent underfunding and restrictive macroeconomic conditions, conflict and climate disruption are reshaping both the content and governance of education. By situating academic insights within a multilateral human rights setting, the event helped strengthen the dialogue between research and policy and enriched the broader Forum discussions with critical and comparative perspectives.
The session was introduced and chaired by Peter Bille Larsen, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Geneva, and member of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, who welcomed participants and recalled the shared aim of bridging academic and human rights perspectives on the evolving right to education. Opening remarks were delivered by Ana Luiza M. Thompson-Flores, Director of the UNESCO Geneva Liaison Office, Peggy Hicks, Director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division at the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), and Margaret Grogan, Chief Editor of Frontiers in Education. Together, they underscored that education is a universal, legally binding human right and a decisive enabler of all other rights. Yet the right is under strain: rapid digitalization risks deepening divides and eroding learners’ autonomy and privacy; the marketization of schooling and the growing privatization can widen inequalities; and protracted crises continue to interrupt learning and place students and teachers at serious risk. Persistent underfunding and restrictive macroeconomic conditions further constrain States’ ability to mobilize the maximum of available resources for equitable, quality provision. As noted by Peter Bille Larsen, “education, as we can see it, is not a calm river flowing from generation to generation, but rather a time of upheaval, of flooding, of desertification, we might say, decreasing budgets, of crisis also hitting”.
Country perspectives followed from H.E. Mrs. Claudia Fuentes Julio, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office, H.E. Mr. João António Mira Gomes, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Portugal, and H.E. Mr. Sambue Antas, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Vanuatu. Their interventions brought national realities into focus. Chile linked equality and inclusion to sustained teacher support and digital competencies; Portugal highlighted its long-standing leadership on the right to education at the Human Rights Council, calling for protection of academic freedom and safe schools; Vanuatu emphasized that climate resilience, cultural and linguistic diversity, and indigenous knowledge must be integral to the right, to ensure that AI-driven systems and global datasets do not erase local voices. Education is a collective endeavour rooted in community knowledge and mutual support, as expressed through the vivid metaphor “our canoe is strongest when we paddle together”.
The Expert Roundtable gathered Moira V. Faul (NORRAG), Delphine Dorsi (Right to Education Initiative), Patrice Meyer-Bisch (University of Fribourg), Sangheon Lee (ILO), Manon Sala (Learning Planet Institute), and Kevin Mary and Nora Nafaa (Université Perpignan Via Domitia & Université d’Aix-Marseille).
Panelists identified a range of key levers for progress. They called for bringing rights-holders – teachers, learners and affected communities – closer to decision-making, especially in emergencies, and for resourcing civil society to generate ground-level data that can inform UN human rights mechanisms. Speakers emphasized the need to regulate the growing privatization and commercialization of education through clear public-interest safeguards, transparency and accountability, while also reinforcing financing and legal frameworks that recognize lifelong learning as an integral part of the right to education, from early childhood through adulthood. The discussion further explored how digital transformation, cultural rights, and labour policies intersect with education. Participants agreed that technology must serve people – not replace them – by empowering teachers, supporting innovative pedagogies and responding to learners’ emotional and cultural needs. They stressed that lifelong and digital learning must remain inclusive, human-centred and connected to decent work and social justice. It was underscored that the right to education also includes a right to its substance – the ethical, intellectual and cultural dimensions that sustain human dignity and diversity. Education was described as a living, relational process rooted in community life and shared responsibility, extending beyond formal schooling. As highlighted by Patrice Meyer-Bisch during the discussion, “what is taught, its content and cultural meaning, is central to the integrity of the right to education”. Beyond access, the right to education implies participation in the educational life of society – active engagement in shaping, transmitting and renewing knowledge across generations. Concerns were raised about the erosion of trust in knowledge and the manipulation of curricula, which can distort science, history and culture. Renewed attention was therefore called for to the values that give meaning to learning – freedom, respect, solidarity and care – as foundations for democratic and peaceful societies. Across the board, youth engagement was highlighted as essential: meaningful participation – beyond token consultation – was seen as key to revitalizing education as a collective, rights-based endeavour.
The interactive discussion, moderated by Rita Locatelli, UNESCO Chair in Education for Human Development and Solidarity among Peoples at the Università Cattolica in Milan and Co-Editor in Chief of L’éducation en débats, deepened the debate on governance, participation and accountability. Exchanges highlighted the need to safeguard education as a public good amid growing privatization, to link education more effectively with social, humanitarian and peace agendas, and to promote knowledge equity by recognizing expertise from the Global South. As stressed by Moira V. Faul, “it is absolutely not about expropriating knowledge and data from the Global South, but about recognizing that expertise and using it respectfully”. Participants also reflected on youth participation, stressing that young people must be genuinely heard and engaged in shaping solutions. As Delphine Dorsi cautioned, “do we really listen to young people, or do we use them to carry our own voice?”.
In her concluding remarks, Rolla Moumné Beulque, UNESCO’s Right to Education Programme in the Section of Education Policy, stressed that the right to education today stands at a decisive crossroads. She called for renewed commitment to education as a living, evolving right – one that adapts to technological shifts, climate emergencies and changing social realities, while preserving its universal humanistic core. Advancing this vision, she noted, requires coherent legal and policy frameworks, stronger accountability mechanisms, and sustained investment that links education to broader social, cultural and economic transformation. She underscored that this evolution must guarantee lifelong learning as a right for all, ensure that learners remain active participants in shaping their education, and safeguard human agency in the digital era. Moumné highlighted UNESCO’s forthcoming Symposium on the Future of the Right to Education (to be held in Paris on 9th December) as the next milestone in shaping this agenda, reaffirming that, to remain a genuine public and common good, education must continue to be financed, governed and protected as a living right, ensuring that every learner, everywhere, can thrive with dignity. This, she emphasized, requires rights-based public investment that bridges the gap between law and lived reality, making inequalities visible and actionable, and ensuring culturally relevant, equitable learning opportunities across the life course.
This side event in Geneva, to which the UNESCO Liaison Office in Geneva has contributed, not only has celebrated the launch of the two Journals’ Special Issues but also advocated for the core principles of the right to education. La Genève internationale provides a unique platform to address shared challenges and foster global awareness. Renowned as a hub for international diplomacy, Geneva serves as the ideal venue for this gathering, bringing together policymakers, academia, and civil society to shape a sustainable and inclusive future for education and humanity.