UN Human Rights Council 47: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Education
The UK's International Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French, delivered this statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Education.
Covid-19 has been the largest disrupter to education in history, and girls will suffer the most. 129 million girls were out of school before the pandemic, and millions of girls are now at risk of not returning to school.
The United Kingdom is standing up for 12 years of quality education for all girls –a personal priority for our Prime Minister. Together with our G7 partners, we have just endorsed two new milestones to get the Sustainable Development Goals on track: 40 million more girls in school, and 20 million more reading by age 10, by 2026, in low- and lower-middle income countries.
To achieve this, we must tackle the barriers that are preventing girls accessing education, including discrimination at home, violence on the way to school and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. The UK is proud to be leading a resolution with the UAE during this Council session, which calls for urgent action to eliminate such barriers and ensure that all girls get back in school and learning. We ask for support from all member states. To accelerate progress, girls’ education is at the heart of the UK’s G7 presidency this year, and we are co-hosting the Global Education Summit with Kenya in July.
Special Rapporteur Boly Barry,
How can we overcome the discrimination, exacerbated by Covid-19, which prevents many girls from realising their right to education?
Thank you.