Publication type: Legal instrument

Responsability: UNESCO

Authors: UNESCO

Language: In all United Nations official languages (ie. English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic)

Publication date: November 2023

Pages: 26

Access: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386924 (version of the document submitted to the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference, for Member States’ adoption)

Descriptive Presentation

In face of the contemporary challenges, UNESCO’s 194 Member States adopted by consensus, in November 2023, a new legal instrument that reinforces the transformative role of education in building lasting peace: The Recommendation on education for peace and human rights, international understanding, cooperation, fundamental freedoms, global citizenship and sustainable development.

As the instrument connects different educational approaches working for similar goals, the Recommendation marks a significant step forward in the international education policy landscape and supports the “re-imagining of education systems” called for by UNESCO’s Futures of Education Report (2022) and Transforming Education Summit (2022). Updating the “1974 Recommendation”^[1]Full title adopted in 1974: The Recommendation concerning education for international understanding and cooperation and peace and education relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms., the newly adopted Recommendation will be commonly referred to as the “Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development” and remains the only global legal instrument that lays out how education can and should be used (and how it should be transformed) to bring about lasting peace and foster human development.

Grounded in human rights, the Recommendation covers all dimensions of education (formal and non-formal) and links different thematic areas within Target 4.7 of SDG 4 on Education. It also integrates issues that are key to fostering sustainable development in our digital era, such as digital citizenship, climate change education, gender equality, and health and well-being. It is a roadmap to guide countries’ education initiatives in the 21st century to ensure that all learners are empowered with the knowledge skills, values, attitudes, and behaviors needed to take individual and collective action towards achieving this common future. Moving forward, UNESCO will be working with, and supporting, Member States and civil society actors to realize the full potential of the Recommendation.