Malala Day, Friday 12 July 2013 “Malala is doing her part, governments must do theirs” – UN Special Rapporteur on education

GENEVA (12 July 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, today celebrates the impact that Malala Yousafzai has had by risking her life to get the education which is her right. On the occasion of Malala Day, the UN human rights expert urges governments worldwide to overcome challenges and do their part:

“When a girl is determined to learn, and her family and community support her, she cannot be stopped by anyone.

Malala’s example inspires untold numbers of mothers and daughters to face down intimidation and fear, and to demand from their local governments what is their most basic right – an education.

Governments must now work to ensure that all children receive the message that they must be in schools, in a classroom. Governments must be clear that education is not a privilege; it is a human right.

Many challenges remain for the millions of children who are out of school. No child should fear violence for wanting to learn. Children must not have to pay for school fees, uniforms or transportation. No child should have to work to be able to eat. Vulnerable groups, including children with disabilities, minorities, migrants and refugees all require and deserve extra support.

All of these difficulties cannot be ignored; they must be overcome for the Millennium Development Goals* to be achieved by 2015.

Malala is doing her part, now governments must do theirs.”

Kishore Singh (India), the Special Rapporteur on the right to education since August 2010, is a professor specialized in international law who has worked for many years with UNESCO for the promotion of the right to education, and advised a number of international, regional and national bodies on right to education issues. Throughout his career, Mr. Singh has supported the development of the right to education in its various dimensions and worked to promote better understanding of this right as an internationally recognized right. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.aspx

(*) The Special Rapporteur will deliver his report on recommendations to the post-2015 education agenda to the UN General Assembly this October.

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