A/HRC/35/11 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 32/20, the Human Rights Council recognized that education was a multiplier right that empowered women and girls to make choices to claim their human rights, including the right to participate in public affairs and to participate fully in the making of decisions that shape society. The Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report, in close cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, on the realization of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl, to be submitted to it at its thirty-fifth session. 2. A note verbale was sent on 11 October 2016, requesting submissions from States and other stakeholders; 35 submissions were received.1 Further information was obtained from relevant stakeholders by way of reports, correspondence and research. 3. Despite universal recognition of the right to education for everyone, girls are still more likely than boys never to attend school. As of 2014, over 32 million girls of primary school age did not attend school and it is estimated that 15 million girls — mainly those living in poverty — will never set foot in a classroom, compared to 10 million boys. 2 These disparities have also contributed to the fact that women account for nearly two thirds of the world’s 758 million adults who cannot read or write, and the gap is even wider in situations of conflict, where girls are nearly two and a half times more likely to be out of school than boys.3 4. Despite progress, in particular in primary education, much remains to be done at all levels of education and across regional, national and subnational levels to ensure that every girl has equal right to quality education and is not left behind. With gender equality at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in devising laws, policies and plans to implement it, States must ensure compliance with their international human rights obligations. II. Legal framework and developments 5. The right to education, including its equal enjoyment by every girl, is universally recognized and guaranteed in many international and regional legal instruments. 4 It consists of four essential and interrelated principles — availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability — , which duty bearers have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil. 5 6. Although the right to education is subject to progressive realization, and limitations are recognized, international human rights standards nonetheless impose upon States obligations that have immediate effect. For instance, the obligation of non-discrimination applies “fully and immediately to all aspects of education” and “encompasses all internationally prohibited grounds of discrimination”. 6 Additionally, States have an 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 The submissions are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/EveryGirl.aspx. UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report 2016: Gender Review — Creating Sustainable Futures for All (2016), p. 15. Ibid., pp. 22 and 27. See, inter alia, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13 (2); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, arts. 10, 14 and 16; the Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 28-29; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education and Recommendation against Discrimination in Education; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 17; the Arab Charter on Human Rights, art. 34; the Council of Europe Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, art. 2; and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, arts. 12 and 31. See E/CN.4/1999/49, para. 50; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education, paras.13 and 46. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 2; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 (1999), para. 31.