A/HRC/43/63 children and youth. Achieving sustainable development for all meant realizing universal access to education, including for children in street situations who needed targeted, specialized educational solutions and joint action by governments and civil society organizations. 18. Sylvain Aubry, representing the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stressed that education was under threat from multinational corporations and commercial schools that risked controlling its content and format with limited State oversight. This had resulted in increasingly segregated educational systems and social tensions in several countries. The Abidjan Principles unpacked existing human rights law on the right to education, and were a useful tool for its meaningful implementation. The Abidjan Principles reaffirmed the right of everyone to good-quality public schooling. They recognized parents’ freedom to choose a school other than a public school, and detailed the public service obligations that States must apply in such cases. The Abidjan Principles requested that States prioritize funding of public education, while recognizing the complementary role that non-commercial private actors may play in crisis situations where States were temporarily unable to deliver education, subject to substantive, procedural and operational requirements. The Abidjan Principles had been recognized by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, and civil society. 19. Alassane Gano, representing International Movement All Together in Dignity (ATD) Fourth World, highlighted the problems that children affected by poverty faced in accessing education – which included families incurring debt to pay for enrolment fees and school supplies, children needing to work to support their families, a lack of schools providing education in children’s home language, and dropping out of school because of early pregnancy or bullying. Despite progress made by his country’s government, the number of schools in poor areas was often insufficient, and teachers were not trained to pay enough attention to children with special educational needs. In response, ATD Fourth World contributed to combating poverty and promoting education. It focused on obtaining birth certificates and working with community schools to promote admission of the poorest children. It organized street libraries, talks and artistic workshops where children could discover the pleasure of learning and develop their creativity. Such collaboration helped to bridge the gap between various ethnic groups, social classes and nationalities, and encouraged parents to enrol children, or keep children, in school. 20. The representative of the Mexican Young Indigenous Network and of the Fund for Development of Indigenous Peoples from Latin America and the Caribbean, Dalí Silvia Angel, conveyed challenges faced by indigenous young people in accessing education, as reported to her in a regional consultative process, which included poverty, exclusion, child pregnancy, and physical distance and poor infrastructure between settlements and schools. They had recommended scholarships for indigenous young people to continue their studies, and intercultural dialogues. Education about indigenous identity, culture and history contributed to young indigenous people’s self-esteem and to their valuing their heritage. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized the right to preserve indigenous philosophy and cultural identity through education. Education was intrinsically connected to other human rights, such as health, housing, food, and indigenous peoples’ land rights. Migration by indigenous youth from their community to cities for education damaged indigenous culture and identity. Moreover, 2019 was the international year of indigenous languages, and hence it was vital to promote and revitalize such languages. 21. During the interactive dialogue, representatives of China, Cuba, Mexico, Morocco, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and of the International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education, the Latvian Human Rights Committee, Millennials Energy, and Udisha, and an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) intern, took the floor. Participants considered education as a national priority that should have precise budgetary commitments. Countries prioritized literacy and numeracy skills, universal access to equitable and quality compulsory education, a zero rejection rate for university applications, and increasing school attendance. Some considered education in relation to other rights, such as health and freedom from poverty, 6