Ensuring that every person can fully enjoy the right to education is both a promise and a shared responsibility. At the UN Social Forum 2025, the Swiss Commission for UNESCO is co-hosting a side event that will look ahead: What must education systems do to remain inclusive and resilient in the face of new global challenges?

This discussion will explore how education policies and cooperation frameworks can better promote and protect human rights — including addressing inequalities, technological change and crises affecting learners worldwide. With contributions from governments, researchers and international experts, the session will highlight concrete pathways to advance the right to education and leave no learner behind.

Specific objectives

• Deepen understanding of how structural inequalities and global transformations shape the implementation of the right to education.
• Foster exchange and collaboration among experts, Member States, civil society, academia, private sector and other key actors on the future of the right to education.
• Share insights from experts about key challenges and forward-looking strategies to safeguard and advance education as a fundamental human right.

Expected outcomes

• Strengthened networks between academic contributors, human rights actors, and education stakeholders.
• Inform UNESCO’s Evolving Right to Education Initiative.
• Greater visibility of the Special Issues and 2024 Geneva Human Rights Dialogue key findings.
• Inputs for follow-up research and advocacy at the Human Rights Council and beyond.

📍 Palais des Nations, Room VII (Building A, Floor 3), Geneva
📅 30 October 2025
🕐 13:00–15:00 (CET)
🎧 French–English interpretation provided
🥂 Reception with light refreshments to follow
👥 In-person only event

🔗 Registration: https://indico.un.org/event/1010443/ or by contacting Geneva@unesco.org