This session of the Human Rights Council started with a High-Level Segment with contributions of Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary-General), Volker Türk (UN High Commissioner of Human Rights), and Santiago Peña Palacios (President of Paraguay, by video message). In his speech, Antonio Guterres treated the right to peace in-depth and stated that “the path to peace begins with full respect for all human rights”. He quickly touched on the right to education in the context of access to education for women and girls.

OIDEL contributed to discussions related to education and the rights of minority groups and closely followed debates and discussions on the rights of the child.

Oral Statement during the General Debate Item 3: On the Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
During the General Debate Item 3, OIDEL, represented by Josyane Zingg, took the floor to recall the importance of educational pluralism. Although our plural society is a human family, different cultures have different histories and choose different paths to reach beauty or goodness. A monolithic educational system will thus fall short of providing a holistic education for all cultures. Ms. Zingg also referred to a recent publication of OIDEL and CEU–CEFAS, which found that involving and trusting families and communities in the construction of plural and free educational systems has a positive impact on academic performance and social equality. Therefore, OIDEL called upon the international community to consider and trust parents in the shaping of their national education systems.

Co-signing of declarations and follow-up to various resolutions
OIDEL followed and contributed to several resolutions, including one on the rights of minorities and one on the rights of the child. We co-signed the oral statement of another NGO on the right to development.