A/HRC/41/37 30. There are also an important number of national legislative measures that regulate the growing number of private educational institutions.38 31. The mandate on the right to education, for its part, dedicated three reports in 2014 and 2015 related to the growth of private actors in education, expressing concern about the situation and warning that “it may not be an exaggeration to say that privatization is supplanting public education instead of supplementing it” (A/69/402, para. 38). Building on those reports, since 2015 the Human Rights Council has consistently called upon States to address the impact of private actors in education through resolutions adopted by consensus, with a significant number of States from all regional groups sponsoring them, signalling a broad agreement on the issue. In resolution 29/7, the Council urged States to put in place “a regulatory framework guided by international human rights obligations for education providers that establishes, inter alia, minimum norms and standards for the creation and operation of educational institutions”; and to support “research and awareness-raising activities to better understand the wide-ranging impact of the commercialization of education on the enjoyment of the right to education”. Crucially, it also recognized “the significant importance of public investment in education, to the maximum of available resources”. In resolution 32/22, the Council added that the regulatory framework should apply to education providers “operating independently or in partnership with States” and requested States to address “any negative impact of the commercialization of education and strengthen[s] access to appropriate remedies and reparation for victims of violations of the right to education”. It further urged all States to hold accountable education providers “whose practices have a negative impact on the enjoyment of the right to education. In resolutions 35/2 and 38/9, the Council maintained similar wording, specifying in resolution 38/9 that the regulatory framework should apply to all education providers. 32. Human rights therefore provide a solid framework of legally binding obligations with regard to the role of States and private actors that must guide the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4. The right to education can help to identify, prevent and, when necessary, demand accountability for practices, such as the growth of commercial school chains, that seriously threaten human rights and social cohesion. Other situations demand a careful assessment and the human rights framework possesses qualities that make it a particularly useful tool for policymakers: it is a legally binding framework almost universally ratified; it provides a basis for discussion beyond some of the entrenched ideological positions; and it allows assessments to be made with the necessary level of subtlety, flexibility and pragmatism. 33. The right to education unambiguously prohibits two extreme positions: the destruction of public education and the nullification of the liberty to choose and establish private educational institutions. Such situations would not be in conformity with human rights standards. Between those positions, there is a wide range of possibilities, where private and public actors may exist, which demand a careful assessment to determine how to fulfil the right to education. V. The Abidjan Principles: a guiding tool to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in accordance with the obligation of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education 34. On 13 February 2019, the Abidjan Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education were 38 Discrimination against Women, general comment No. 36 (2017) on the right of girls and women to education, paras. 38–39, and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, general comment No. 24, para. 22. See Right to Education Project, National Legislation on Private Provision of Education (March 2016), available at www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resourceattachments/RTE_National_Legislation_on_Private_Provision_of_Education_All_Regions_2016.pdf. 9