A/HRC/43/63 which was focused on youth and was aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and reinforced by the Lisbon+21 Declaration on Youth Policies and Programmes. He invited participants to reflect on how to: empower children and youth to claim their right to education; meet the right to education at all times, including during crises; meet the expanding challenges in education; and make education fit for the future. III. Summary of proceedings A. The transformative power of education for young people 7. The Chairperson and Founder of the Education Above All Foundation, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, spoke following a video about children affected by armed conflict and poverty, whose right to education and dreams were being supported by the Foundation. Prolonged armed conflict destroyed education, including through deliberate attacks on educational facilities. In the previous five years, 14,000 attacks against educational facilities had been registered, in 30 countries, including Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. Young people frustrated by lack of education became vulnerable to recruitment by criminal groups. Education was a socioeconomic concern and a global security issue requiring a global response by governments, the private sector, civil society and communities. The Foundation’s achievement in educating 10 million children in six years set an example. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser called for accountability for those responsible for attacking education, and for new binding agreements to protect education. She proposed the creation of an annual day for the protection of education, to recognize progress, identify gaps and keep the protection of education at the top of the global agenda. 8. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, argued that the right to education was crucial given the record global youth population. Accessible, inclusive, quality education enabled children and youth to realize their other rights. Deep disparities in access to education and in educational levels were based on children’s gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, financial situation, location or migration status. Armed conflict, gangs, and violence, including sexual violence, deprived millions of children and young people of education. Lack of accessibility for children with disabilities, of sanitation, of resourcing or of adequate normative frameworks also affected school attendance. Education should equip children and young people for work and empower them to become agents of change on issues such as climate change and women’s rights. National laws, policies and strategies must uphold and implement the right to education in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 4. The High Commissioner welcomed the Abidjan Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education, of 2019. She called for better data collection, including on the needs and numbers of children and youth not in education. 9. The Assistant Director-General for Education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Stefania Giannini, warned of an imminent “education emergency”, given the millions of out-of-school children, including due to conflict and natural disasters. This entrenched inequalities and poverty within and between countries. Investing in lifelong education was necessary for more inclusive, resilient and sustainable societies. The Right to Education Handbook, and Her Education, Our Future, which were UNESCO projects, provided guidance for better legal and policy frameworks to address educational inequalities. Legislative frameworks must foster inclusion from the youngest age, especially of the most vulnerable. It should encompass teachers, learning contents and safe environments. To promote young migrants’ enrolment in secondary and tertiary education, the UNESCO Qualifications Passport for Vulnerable Migrants and Refugees was being piloted in Zambia. Countries should invest 4 per cent of their gross domestic product and 15 per cent of their national budgets in education, and should prioritize it in official development assistance. The UNESCO “Futures of Education” initiative reimagined how knowledge and learning could contribute to humanity. Realizing the universal right to education was the top priority of UNESCO, a priority that should be shared by all stakeholders. 3