HRC59: Safe to Learn -Defending the Right to Safety in Education
The 59th Session of the Human Rights Council
16 June - 09 July 2025
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Education
19 June 2025
By Shyla Gheek and Adam Seymour / GICJ
Executive Summary
The session opened with the presentation of a report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms. Farida Shaheed, who focused on the fundamental issue of safety in educational environments. The Special Rapporteur highlighted that students who experience discrimination based on gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity are especially vulnerable to violence and exclusion in schools. She stressed the importance of creating inclusive, rights-based educational environments where every child is protected from fear, stigma, and harm, regardless of their background or identity.
The Special Rapporteur emphasised that safety must be understood as integral to the right to education and not as an auxiliary concern. A safe educational environment is essential for students’ physical, emotional, and psychosocial development. Her report proposed a comprehensive rights-based framework that includes legislative reform, accountability systems, teacher support, community engagement, and equitable investment in public education.
She stressed that growing privatisation threatens the integrity of public schooling and warned that poor teaching conditions combined with inadequate mental health support are undermining learning outcomes.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) supports the findings of the Special Rapporteur and calls on all states to prioritise the safety and well-being of all learners. GICJ echoes the call for inclusive, publicly funded education systems that protect children from violence and discrimination while upholding dignity and equal access to learning environments.
Background
Globally, millions of children face unsafe learning environments that jeopardise their access to quality education. According to UNESCO, approximately 246 million children and adolescents experience some form of school-related violence each year, including bullying, physical attacks, and sexual harassment, forms of abuse that severely compromise their ability to learn and thrive emotionally and academically [1].
The Special Rapporteur’s report addresses this global crisis by analysing the structural, legal, and socio-political factors that contribute to unsafe schools. She draws attention to how legal gaps, weak enforcement, and inadequate monitoring mechanisms allow violence in schools to persist unchallenged. The report is grounded in core international legal instruments, including Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which establish the right to education in a safe and respectful environment. States, therefore, have a binding obligation to provide education that is not only accessible and inclusive, but also free from fear, harm, and abuse.
The report identifies a broad range of risks faced by learners: gender-based violence, corporal punishment, bullying, attacks on schools in conflict zones, and emotional and psychological neglect. These forms of violence often intersect with systemic inequalities, including those based on poverty, ethnicity, disability, personal identity, and geography.
The report also links these safety concerns to the privatisation and commodification of education, warning that such trends erode the protective function of schools and lead to increased inequality in access and outcomes. Ms. Shaheed argues that ensuring safety in education is not just a pedagogical concern but a matter of justice, dignity, and the fulfilment of human rights.
Summary of the Special Rapporteur’s Report
The report outlines numerous challenges to ensuring safety in educational settings, including persistent issues such as sexual and gender-based violence, corporal punishment, bullying, and the targeting of schools in armed conflict. It also draws attention to emotional and psychological neglect, which often goes unaddressed. These forms of harm disproportionately affect girls and other marginalised groups, contributing to absenteeism, school dropout, and long-term negative impacts on learners’ well-being. The Special Rapporteur emphasised that such conditions “undermine not only the well-being of learners but also access to and participation in education.”
Ms. Shaheed emphasised that these threats are often rooted in structural deficiencies such as weak legal protections, under-trained teaching staff, cultural silence around abuse, and insufficient investment in school safety measures. She also warned that “growing privatisation threatens the integrity of public schooling as a public body and poor teaching conditions (combined with inadequate mental health support) undermined learning outcomes.”
The Special Rapporteur called for legal reform to prohibit all forms of violence in schools; the development of inclusive safety policies; community and child participation in education planning; training for teachers and school staff; and the integration of psychosocial support services into education systems. Special attention was given to ensuring safe education for children in emergency and crisis settings.
Additionally, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the pervasive issue of bullying in schools, citing data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which show that in many countries, a significant percentage of young people aged 13 to 15 experience bullying [2]. In the United States alone, over one-quarter of adolescents in this age group report being bullied at least once. This underscores the global nature of the problem, with children affected across a wide range of regions and educational contexts.
Interactive Dialogue
Opening Statement
The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education opened the dialogue by highlighting that in 2025, the right to education must be intrinsically understood as the right to be safe in education. This year’s thematic focus underscored safety not only in conflict and emergency settings, but also in the everyday experiences of learners, teachers, and education personnel worldwide.
The Special Rapporteur expressed grave concern over the alarming rise in violence affecting educational spaces, including attacks on schools, sexual exploitation, forced recruitment into armed groups, and growing institutional discrimination. She reported that learners and teachers are increasingly subjected to bullying, gender-based violence, corporal punishment, and mental health crises, all of which severely undermine the right to education.
In her address, the Special Rapporteur emphasised that the right to be safe in education entails an immediate obligation for States and all stakeholders. This includes the prohibition of corporal punishment, the prevention of harassment and reprisals, and the protection of academic freedom. She proposed a working definition of safety in education as the protection of all learners, educators, and staff from any violation of their physical, sexual, or emotional integrity.
She further cautioned against excessive surveillance and punitive disciplinary measures, stating that these approaches often erode trust, stifle independent thinking, and compromise students' identity development. She highlighted the importance of holistic, rights-based school environments that foster inclusion, mental health support, and mutual respect.
With reference to recent global crises, the Special Rapporteur condemned the disproportionate use of force against students during protests, attacks on educational infrastructure in armed conflicts, and systemic inequities in education systems. She called for political will to implement the Safe Schools Declaration and warned against the commodification of education, urging all States, particularly the United States, to recognise education as a human right and a public good. The Special Rapporteur noted the absence of the United States during the dialogue, but referenced her recent visit to Indiana and Colorado in May 2024. While acknowledging the diversity and commitment to access, she raised concerns about persistent systemic inequalities, particularly punitive discipline disproportionately affecting non-white students and the growing privatisation of public education. She urged the U.S. to explicitly recognise education as a civil and human right, to ensure equitable funding, mental health support, and to uphold academic freedom and the right to protest in educational settings.
She closed her statement by emphasising the need for international cooperation and renewed efforts to ensure that everyone feels safe, seen, and represented in education, quoting a young Finnish delegate who remarked, “not being seen, not being represented is also a form of harm.”
Countries and Regional Groups Statements
The representative of the European Union (EU) expressed strong support for the Special Rapporteur’s report, commending the emphasis on both conflict-related and everyday hazards in education. The EU reaffirmed its commitment to SDG4 and called on all States to adopt comprehensive safety frameworks that address violence, discrimination, and bullying, both online and offline. The delegate further asked how schools could harness digitalisation while mitigating its negative impacts on student safety and well-being.
The representative of Ghana, speaking on behalf of the African Group, acknowledged the right to be safe in education as essential and reaffirmed the region’s commitment to building inclusive and protective educational systems. They emphasised the need to protect marginalized groups and create lifelong learning opportunities in a safe environment.
The delegate of Ukraine expressed deep concern over the direct attack on the right to education by the Russian Federation. The delegate cited recent attacks on 26 educational institutions, including kindergartens, and reported that over 4,000 institutions have been damaged since the full-scale invasion. Ukraine condemned the forced transfer and re-education of Ukrainian children, calling it a violation of international law. The country urged the international community to act swiftly to protect children’s identity, academic freedom, and physical safety.
The delegate of the Islamic Republic of Iran reiterated that education is a cornerstone of human dignity and must reflect local values, ethics, and morals. The delegate called for technological equity, effective transfers of educational technology, and affirmed the State's role in safeguarding age-appropriate and culturally aligned education. The delegate also condemned the ongoing attacks on Palestinian educational institutions.
The delegate of the Russian Federation criticised the Special Rapporteur’s approach, asserting that the definition of safety in the report extends beyond her mandate and interferes with State sovereignty. The delegate claimed that the report’s focus on infrastructure and conflict is counterproductive and argued that Russophobia is influencing educational systems, notably through the exclusion of Russian-language instruction, which they claimed violates cultural rights.
The delegate of the Republic of Korea stressed the importance of holistic safety frameworks and shared its recent initiative to integrate AI-based safety systems into school management. The delegate highlighted that students must be viewed as both targets of protection and agents of their own safety, pointing to the country’s investment in hazard prevention drills. The delegate also asked what context-sensitive tools and mechanisms could further enhance safety across varying educational environments.
Statements by NGOs and Civil Society
NGOs welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s report and echoed the urgent need to strengthen protections for all learners. Representatives emphasised the importance of comprehensive child protection policies, mental health services, and the banning of corporal punishment. Furthermore, they stressed the plight of children in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, and the DRC, urging stronger protection of the right to education in armed conflict.
A statement was presented by a young girl who stated simply yet powerfully: “Education should put girls at the centre.”
UNICEF echoed the Special Rapporteur’s message, emphasising that 245 million children are affected annually by violence in and around schools. The organisation called on States to act in line with the “Safe to Learn” agenda, launched by 15 UN agencies, to ensure schools are safe and empowering environments. They particularly called for investment in mental health and the transformation of harmful social norms.
Concluding Remarks
The Special Rapporteur addressed the serious concerns raised regarding the lack of safety in educational settings and reiterated the key findings of her report. She underscored that unsafe schools, whether due to violence, discrimination, or neglect, constitute a direct violation of children’s right to education and undermine all aspects of their development and well-being.
The Special Rapporteur stressed that issues of educational safety are not isolated incidents but the result of systemic shortcomings, including underfunded public schools, the effects of unchecked privatisation, and inadequate mental health support. She noted that unsafe environments disproportionately affect marginalised learners such as girls, youth, children with disabilities, and those in conflict-affected areas.
Additionally, she called on the United States to recognise education as a human right and to ratify core international treaties. She emphasised that education must be protected as a public good, not treated as a commodity, and called for states to ensure equitable public funding to address structural barriers in education.
The Special Rapporteur urged states to adopt legal protections against all forms of school-based violence, develop national frameworks that prioritise student well-being, and ensure that responses are inclusive, community-informed, and aligned with international human rights standards.
The Special Rapporteur also expressed concern over increasing restrictions on education freedoms, including the right of students to question, protest, and express dissent, particularly in university settings. She highlighted recent cases in the United States where students were reportedly expelled or even deported for speaking out against foreign governments, warning that such actions not only infringe on freedom of expression but also erode the democratic character of educational institutions. She urged states to uphold academic freedom and protect student activists as part of their commitment to safe and inclusive education.
Position of Geneva International Centre for Justice
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) supports the findings of the Special Rapporteur and calls on all states to prioritise the safety and well-being of all learners. GICJ echoes the call for inclusive, publicly funded education systems that protect children from violence and discrimination while upholding dignity and equal access to learning environments.
Sources
[1] School violence and bullying: global status report - UNESCO Digital
