A/HRC/25/29 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 22/3, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, in consultation with States and other relevant stakeholders, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), regional organizations, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and national human rights institutions. The resolution also requested that the study be made available on the OHCHR website, in an accessible format, prior to the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council. 2. To this end, OHCHR invited contributions from Member States, UNICEF, UNESCO, regional organizations, civil society organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, and national human rights institutions, transmitting a set of questions related to education of persons with disabilities. As a result, OHCHR received 39 responses from States, 12 from national human rights institutions and 31 from civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The full texts of all submissions received are available on the OHCHR website.1 II. The right to inclusive education as a human right A. Inclusion as a fundamental principle of education 3. The right to education is a universal right recognized by international human rights law and, as such, applies to all persons, including persons with disabilities. Several international instruments, inter alia, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, affirm the core principles of universality and non-discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to education.2 Inclusive education has been acknowledged as the most appropriate modality for States to guarantee universality and non-discrimination in the right to education. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes that, for persons with disabilities to exercise this right, inclusive education systems must be in place and, consequently, the right to education is a right to inclusive education. 4. School systems have typically adopted one of three different approaches to persons with disabilities: exclusion, segregation and integration. Exclusion occurs when a student is kept away from school on the basis of the existence of an impairment, without another educational opportunity on equal terms with other students being provided. Through this approach, a student with disabilities is prevented from joining the education system on the basis of age, development or diagnosis and is placed in a social welfare or health-care environment without access to education. Segregation occurs when such a student is sent to a school designed to respond to a particular impairment, usually in a special-education school system. Finally, integration is when a student with an impairment is placed in a 1 2 www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/Pages/SubmissionStudyEducation.aspx. See also concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Argentina, CRPD/C/ARG/CO/1; and Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1. 3