A/HRC/17/29 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 8/4 on the right to education. The Council, in its resolution, calls on the Special Rapporteur to gather, review and exchange information on obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to education and formulate recommendations on measures to promote and protect it. It also calls on the Special Rapporteur to make recommendations contributing to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (particularly goals 2 and 3) as well as the Education for All goals, to integrate a gender perspective in his work, and to review the interdependence and interrelatedness of the right to education with other human rights. The Special Rapporteur has been requested to report annually to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. 2. This is the first thematic report presented by the Special Rapporteur, Kishore Singh, who took up his mandate in August 2010. The first section of the report addresses emerging concerns that the Special Rapporteur intends to examine during his three-year term. The other sections focus on the promotion of equality of opportunity in education: section III analyzes the importance of equality of opportunity in education; section IV details international human rights standards and norms establishing the duty to ensure equality of opportunity in education as well as important political commitments relating to this aim; section V examines national legal frameworks; section VI describes sources of inequalities and indicates measures usually adopted to address them; and section VII addresses the enforcement of laws protecting equal opportunity. Finally, section VIIII of the report proposes recommendations to strengthen equality of opportunity in education. 3. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur engaged in informal consultations with State representatives, international organizations and non-governmental organizations in order to identify priority themes to be examined and plan his main activities. In particular, the Special Rapporteur attaches importance to maintaining close cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), since both play a leading role in the field of education and are essential partners for the dissemination of the work developed by the mandate. The Special Rapporteur has also initiated the process of cooperation with various civil society organizations working on matters relevant to his mandate. Through these various informal consultations, he gathered information used in his analysis of measures promoting equality of opportunity in education. 4. From August 2010 to March 2011, the Rapporteur participated in a number of public events concerning the right to education. In September 2010, he participated in the UNESCO Seminar on “Innovative Financing for Education” and in side events at the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit in New York focusing on the central contribution of education and the Goals. On both occasions, he emphasized the importance of legal instruments to ensure financial support to education. On 25 October, he presented the report of his predecessor to the General Assembly, and also outlined key priority themes that he intends to examine. In November 2010, the Special Rapporteur participated in the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN) held in Dakar, which addressed the theme of quality in education. In December 2010, he was invited by the University of São Paulo (Brazil) on the occasion of the human rights prize award ceremony, where he interacted with experts on human rights and education. During the same month, he participated in activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of UNESCO’s Convention against Discrimination in Education in Paris. 5. From 8 to 15 January 2011, the Special Rapporteur undertook his first country mission to Senegal (a separate report is submitted in this regard). On 1 March 2011 in New 3