Libro Final Ingles Web

The Wind on the Stone
80
Preliminary Report by the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education

Vernor Muñoz
1
Sex education, Human Right.

The wind on the stone.
Human right to holistic sexuality education.
Serie +Educación N° 1
c 2010, Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa

de los Derechos de la Mujer – CLADEM
c 2010, Vernor Muñoz
PO 11-0470, Lima – Perú

Telefax: (511) 4635898
E-mail: oficina@cladem.org
website: www.cladem.org
Editor:
Moriana Hernández Valentini
Care Issue:
Federico Bazzano
Cover design and layout:

Aramis Hernández Moreni
Printed by:
Imprimex
Muñoz, Vernor
Sex education, Human Right: The wind on the stone. Human
right to holistic sexuality education / Prologue by Moriana
Hernández.- Montevideo: CLADEM, 2010.
91 p.
ISBN: 978-9974-98-194-2
1. Sexuality education. I Hernández, Moriana. II Title.

375
First edition: Montevideo, Uruguay, November 2010.

500 copies.
This publication was made possible thanks to support from

the Dutch government’s MDG3 Fund.
2
Summary
Prologue 5
Moriana Hernández Valentini.

Human right to holistic sexuality education 21
Preliminary Report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos.
Girls’ right to education 44

Report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education,
Vernor Muñoz Villalobos.
Preventing through Education 71

Declaration of the 1st Meeting of Health and Education Ministers to Stop HIV
and STIs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
3
ThePrologue
Wind on the Stone
4
Prologue
“Nothing in life must be feared, only understood.

Now is the time to understand more, to fear less.”
Mme. Marie Curie
“The Wind on the Stone” is the poetic name given by Vernor Muñoz to the preliminary text of his last report
as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. With this report on holistic sexuality
education, he ends the cycle of reports1 devoted to making violations of the right to education visible.
Approaching the end of his second term, Vernor Muñoz thanked his long list of friends for the love and
support he received as Special Rapporteur. On June 27, 2010, he circulated a letter summarizing his
performance and how he had experienced it.
“(…) My mandate was an extraordinary experience that changed my life and allowed me to take
human rights activism to a global scale, always guided by my commitment to those communities and
individuals that have historically being discriminated against, excluded, abused and forgotten.” (…)
“I sustain the hope that my reports will be useful tools to secure the exigibility of the human right to
education and I also trust that the recommendations to States that they contain are able to support the
work of non-governmental organizations, that have been my closest allies. (…)”
In my view, these quotes and, above all, his actions throughout his mandate as Special Rapporteur,
are enough of an introduction to the author of “The Wind on the Stone” and his tireless commitment
to men and women’s human rights.
As Susana Chiarotti has said.
“In the first place, for women to be free from fear and need, as the preamble of the Declaration on
Human Rights states, a pre-requisite would be that human rights acknowledged our fears and our needs
in a holistic way” 2
It is not our purpose to present a history of the progressive evolution of human rights, or the most
recent process of making them more specific. We do not even pretend to trace its progressive
generización,3 aimed at eliminating androcentric content from the law.
5
ThePrologue
Wind on the Stone
However, I would like to remember some milestones that have a particular relevance in this process
of acknowledging the rights of women and their more than evident interdependence with the right to
a holistic sexuality education.
Women’s human rights were recognized both in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948,
and in the “twin” Covenants of 1966.4 In an increasingly comprehensive way, they were then reaffirmed
by several International Conventions,5 most particularly in the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
In the previous century, the Global Conferences of the 90s 6 constituted substantive advances towards
further specification of human rights, and particularly the rights of women, girls and other discriminated
collectives. While ratifying our rights, those conferences also underlined that the right to education
has a truly universal scope.
In 1993, the Vienna Conference on Human Rights established with the utmost clarity our status as
part of humanity, by affirming that “the human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable,
integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. (…)” 7 It was in Vienna that we adopted the
theme that is still a flagship of CLADEM: “Without women, rights are not human”.
While writing a prologue for a publication on sexuality education, it is necessary to specially highlight
the advancement that the Declaration and Plan of Action of the memorable International Conference
on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) brought for sexual and reproductive health.
One year after Cairo, women made further substantive progress with the Fourth World Conference
on Women, held in Beijing (1995). Because of the degree of familiarity that women’s human rights
defenders have with its Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as with the consequent reviews
of progress made towards its implementation (Beijing + 5, Beijing +10 and Beijing +15), we need not
further elaborate on this Conference.
To affirm the achievements made in Beijing does not imply ignoring the qualitative advancement that
the passing of the Rome Statute and the creation of the International Criminal Court have brought to
the international human rights system. The Statute ratifies the imprescriptible nature of crimes against
humanity; recognizes women’s sexual freedom as a legally-protected interest and includes sexual
violence, rape, forced prostitution and sterilization in the definition of crimes against humanity.
How can the Rome Statute be omitted from this publication devoted to a sexual and reproductive
right? Even more, how can it be forgotten in Latin America and the Caribbean, where murder and
extermination, forced displacement, disappearances, imprisonment and torture have, in many cases,
been committed on a girl or a woman’s body? 8
6
The 21st Century brought us, among others, the World Conferences on the issues of these times,
in particular the Conference against Racism (Durban, 2001) and the one on Climate Change
(Copenhagen, 2009).
I have left the Jomtien and Dakar Forums on Education for All (1990 and 2000) for the end of this
section, in order to highlight their relevance.
In March 1990, the World Forum on “Education for All” took place in Jomtien, Thailand. The 155
States present signed a World Declaration and Framework for Action in which they committed to
ensure basic quality education for every person - child, youth and adult. 9
“It was not the first time that an important international conference on education was organized, nor the
first time that the goal of universal literacy and schooling was proposed. The Karachi and Addis Ababa
Forums - in the early 60s - not to mention previous conferences held in Bombay (1952), Cairo (1954) or
Lima (1956) - had believed it was feasible to reach both goals by 1980. But in 1990, statistics indicated
that more than 100 million boys and girls had no access to school and more than 900 million adults
around the world were illiterate.” (…)
“Jomtien was not only an attempt to ensure basic education - that is, meeting the basic learning needs -
for the world’s population, but also to renew the vision and scope of that basic education.” 10
Ten years after Jomtien, in Dakar, Senegal, the Forum itself corroborated that.
“The EFA 2000 Assessment demonstrates that there has been significant progress in many countries.
But it is unacceptable in the year 2000 that more than 113 million children have no access to primary
education, 880 million adults are illiterate, gender discrimination continues to permeate education
systems, and the quality of learning and the acquisition of human values and skills fall far short of the
aspirations and needs of individuals and societies. Youth and adults are denied access to the skills
and knowledge necessary for gainful employment and full participation in their societies. Without
accelerated progress towards education for all, national and internationally agreed targets for poverty
reduction will be missed, and inequalities between countries and within societies will widen.”
“Education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development and peace (...).
Achieving EFA goals should be postponed no longer. (...)” 11
We share and reaffirm these views. And we regret that, ten years later, those goals have not yet
been reached.
7
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We began the 21st Century with the Millennium Summit (2000) and the setting of its Objectives and
Goals (2001).
Our network circulated a position paper on the Objectives and Goals,12 that is still relevant in spite of
the progress made and particularly in the light of recent developments.
After recognizing a few merits in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the conclusion is that
they express “a partial and minimalist articulation of humanity’s problems”. Some of the objections
raised are around their not being framed from a human rights perspective. In order to eradicate or
reduce some of humanity’s serious problems, the MDGs stress is on the effects and not the causes.
The MDGs constitute a basic agenda that lacks a social justice perspective, as they do not consider the
needed re-distribution of wealth in the fight against poverty. It has also been pointed out that they do
not include goals related to seeking peace, something that is particularly important for us, given the
effect of armed conflicts on women’s lives and bodies.
In spite of the efforts made by women’s organizations,13 the goal of incorporating a gender perspective
in all the MDGs was not achieved: in spite of being instrumental to the achievement of them all, gender
equality and women’s autonomy have been restricted to a single objective. The MDGs are gender blind
and mute on racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination.
Allow me to quote from this document at length, as it is very relevant to do so in this first issue of the
+education collection, devoted to the human right to holistic sexuality education:
“Sexual and reproductive rights have not been integrated. The whole Cairo Programme of Action
seems to have been summarized in an abridged Goal 5: To improve maternal health. Even after the
abridgement, this objective will not be achieved if governments fail to implement some minimum
changes proposed in the Cairo Plan. Many of the so-called maternal deaths are those of women who
have not been able to adequately enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights, and who have had no
autonomy over their bodies, particularly when they do not wish to become mothers. An important step
to reduce those deaths will be to decriminalize abortion, which in most countries across our region is
still a crime, even when a woman has been raped or the foetus is unviable.” 14
8
In 2010, ten years after the MDGs were adopted, Gina Vargas reiterated the views of Latin American
and Caribbean feminists:
“(…) the Millennium Goals, that drastically lower the standards set at Beijing and, have been much more
enthusiastically assumed by the States. However, as none of them bothered to place the implementation
of the Beijing Platform as an indispensable pre-requisite for their effective achievement, the real
conditions to achieve the MDGs by 2015 do not seem to have been created.” 15
On this dangerous path of reducing the goals set to make the scope of human rights more concrete,
we need to call attention to an issue that is a serious concern for Ibero-American women.
The “Education Goals 2021” project that is being launched by the Organization of Iberoamerican States for
Education, Science and Culture (OEI) is equally minimalistic, and what is even more serious is that women’s
rights are not even mentioned, and, under the pretext of accessing funding for educating our people, it opens
the door for Spanish corporations to put even more pressure on our governments, for their own benefit.
In this regard, we reiterate the ideas expressed in the FISC 16 Declaration on the Ibero-American
Congress on Education that recently took place in Buenos Aires:
“(...) The efforts of the Education Goals 2021 project can not replace the State obligation acquired
through current, pending and urgent commitments to guarantee the right to education, and consecrated
in domestic legislation, regional and international covenants that must be enforced immediately. What
the Goals must do is to subscribe to these obligations.
In this sense, the notion of education as a human right must prevail in the Education Goals 2021
project and thus we urge it to explicitly consider its dimensions: availability, accessibility, acceptability,
adaptability and accountability, all of which are needed for it to be guaranteed. (…)
The 2021 Goals must explicitly include the dimensions of equality in education, particularly on gender
issues, and this implies going beyond equal access to also consider equality in content and practices.”
9
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Wind on the Stone
In the Inter-American context, different international law instruments have progressively acknowledged the
human rights of women. It is fair to admit that sometimes the Inter-American system has pioneered the legal
recognition of our rights. This is clearly the case of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and
Eradicate Violence against Women, known as the Belem do Para Convention, passed in 1994, the first on the
issue in any of the existing regional systems.
I hope this statement is not read as Latin American “nationalism”. I believe that the process of
recognizing human rights in general, and the rights of women and girls in particular, moves forwards
and backwards in every region, and in regard to each one of the indivisible human rights. Advances
in terms of one right do not necessarily correspond to those made for other human rights. One day it
could be the African system leading the way forwards, and on another day that role could be played by
another system or even by a sub-regional bloc.17
Together with other social networks and organizations from our region, CLADEM has been promoting
the Campaign for Non-Sexist and Anti-Discriminatory Education. Through this campaign we have
joined the movement of feminist and educational organizations that have been struggling for years to
achieve these objectives in the world and in our region.
This Campaign is currently promoted by an alliance whose members are CLADEM, Red de Educación
Popular entre Mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe (REPEM, Network of Popular Education among
Latin American and Caribbean Women), the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and the
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and is rapidly expanding. In this
process it is particularly important to highlight the confluence of efforts and agreements reached
with the Campaña Latinoamericana por el derecho a la Educación (CLADE, Latin American Campaign
for the Right to Education) – that has just launched its own campaign to eradicate discrimination
in education – and also with other national, regional and international organizations with which we
shared space at the International Civil Society Forum (FISC).
This is not the right place to discuss the goals and strategies set by the Campaign for Non-Sexist
and Anti-Discriminatory Education. However, I would like to refer here to a topic that even though
consistent with the Campaign objectives and the right to holistic sexuality education, goes widely
beyond them.
I am referring here to the claim for ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
10
This long struggle that we have taken on, and to which we invite other social organizations that
have not yet placed this demand before their governments, is consistent with the very reason for
the existence of our network and also with the mission of other social networks and organizations
in our region, like the Inter-American Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development -
Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD), together with
whom we have been advocating for the ratification of the Optional Protocol in the Latin American
and Caribbean countries.
The Optional Protocol was adopted in December 10, 2008. It allows individuals or groups to report to
the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights violations of any of the rights protected by
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), among which the right
to education is naturally included. It has been signed by 35 countries,18 but up to now ratified only by
Ecuador, Mongolia and Spain.19
It will only enter into force, three months after it has been ratified by at least ten countries.20
It will be enforceable in the different countries only three months after it has been approved through
whichever constitutional mechanism that country contemplates.21 To say it in a more straightforward
way: for an individual or a group to report a violation to any of the rights guaranteed by the ICESCR
to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, their country must have incorporated the
Optional Protocol into its domestic legislation.
To continue promoting the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR has been defined by us
as one of our key contributions to the Campaign for a Non-Sexist and Anti-Discriminatory Education.
As soon as we learned of the Special Rapporteur’s intentions to produce a report on sexuality

education, CLADEM decided to support his endeavour. As regional coordinator for our Campaign,
it was my task to coordinate the contributions made by the fourteen CLADEM national offices
which produced documented reports on their national realities around sexuality education in record
time. Those reports were submitted to the Special Rapporteur for his consideration, together with
hundreds of State, academic and civil society reports and communications from around the globe
that had also been submitted to him.
I do not pretend to “sell love without thorns”, as the incomparable Chavela Vargas used to say, but
i believe it will not be a mistake to say that through the twenty years of CLADEM’s existence, for its
members, the network is a space for active commitment to women’s human rights, as well as for
personal and collective growth.
11
ThePrologue
Wind on the Stone
I will make a public confession: in general, my work with CLADEM has brought me much love and very
few thorns. But few of my tasks have been so challenging and have provided so much intellectual growth
as being part of the team supporting the Rapporteur in producing his report, together with Soledad Garcia
Muñoz, Sebastián Munin and Nina Oberbuehler. Among other things, it allowed me to verify that sexuality
education is a concern around the globe. In spite of the “thorns”, like the hours we had to steal from other
commitments and from sleep, to have the opportunity to work with them was one of those gifts that life
sometimes brings. I don’t know if it became the kind of love that Chavela was singing about. But the truth
is that I enjoyed doing it, and that the collective work was a source of pleasure for me.
“Pleasure” I write. When dealing with sexuality education, I use that hidden and forgotten word on
purpose. It is impossible to think of sexuality education without taking pleasure into consideration, in
its multiple manifestations that do not necessarily relate to intercourse.
Starting with its very name, the Campaign for an Inter-American Convention on Sexual Rights
and Reproductive Rights has pointed out the clear differences between the ends of reproduction
and sexuality.
For centuries, reproduction of the species has been women’s compulsory mandate, weaving (desired
or unwanted) motherhood into our identity and destiny as women. That is why sexual rights were
denied to women during centuries of Patriarchy. Pleasure – like science – was forbidden fruit for us.
If we sometimes did feel pleasure, it was as subsidiary to the pleasure of the Other, or punished with
the full weight of written or unwritten laws, all equally strict.
It was necessary that we recognized our right to own our bodies in order to claim our right to pleasure,
enjoyment and freely chosen motherhood, that is, to the recognition of our sexual rights and our
reproductive rights.
The right to own our bodies - among other powerful reasons - is what drives feminist movements to
advocate for the decriminalization and legalization of abortion. It is good to remember this, as I am
writing this prologue on September 28.22 We advocate for the right to not have motherhood imposed
on us, and for the right of our sons and daughters to be wanted.
For most of the feminist pioneers of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, the
right to vote was their main claim. This is why the movement was reduced to being called “suffrage
movement” in those days.
12
I believe that name reduces the wide scope of the movement because the suffragettes were
contemporaries of other women who understood equality in wages between men and women as the
Gordian knot to be untied in order to achieve liberation of “the woman”.
In Victorian times, there were others who had the sharpness and courage to expose the double
standards in sexuality and to make sexuality education and “free love” one of their key claims.
The different positions of those rebellious women, for instance on prostitution or the “white slaves
trade” show that sexuality was present in feminist debates and struggles from the beginning of the
First Wave.
Latin American feminists are indebted to them and to many others who, individually or collectively,
fought for the sexual rights and reproductive rights of women. They are our ancestors and thanks
to them in the Second Wave we were able to formulate the motto: “Sexuality education to decide,
contraception to not have abortions, legal abortion to not die”.
Unfortunately, this motto is very much current and still points towards one of the many directions for
our struggles and hopes. It is very much current in Latin America and the Caribbean where there is
not a single country - may be with the exception of Cuba - in which the entire population has access
to sexuality education, contraception and legal abortion.
As Vernor Muñoz rightly says in “The Wind on the Stone”, the right to holistic sexuality education is a
human right in itself and at the same time part and parcel of the Right to Education.
Thus, allow me to make a few considerations on education understood as an element of the universal,
indivisible, integral, interdependent, complementary, unrenounceable, imprescriptible, inviolable and
inalienable Human Rights.
At the present moment, the human right to education is at risk because of the ideology and power
of the financial capital that, as Bourdieu 23 has stated, strives to “reduce culture to the status of a
commodity”. Understanding education as a service implies turning it into something that can be
bought and sold.
“It is indeed a struggle between a commercial power attempting to extend the specific interests of
commerce and of those who rule it to the entire world, and a cultural resistance (to those efforts)...” 24
13
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This clash between two paradigms - education as a right versus education as a commodity - is not
a mere abstract argument. It has direct implications for things as concrete as budget allocations to
ensure free education, building of schools and the salaries of teachers; all elements that are needed
for but not enough to guarantee quality education in a country.
Consistent with this are the advances on the secular State led by religious fundamentalist groups that
are placing the secular nature of the State and of education at risk. This discussion is also not one
about the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin. On the contrary, what is at stake is “the
freedom to believe or not to believe; to express a belief or a lack of belief ... and to act according to
one’s conscience...” 25 These are all freedoms included in the basic rules for institutions and democratic
coexistence and without which the work of educating becomes meaningless.
“To respect and enforce respect for the National Constitution and for republican and democratic institutions”
reads the promise that the rulers of many of our countries have made. Let us hope we do not have to
remind them of this. Let us hope never to reach the conclusion about the secular nature of the State as
laid down in our Constitution, as in the tango: “today the promise, tomorrow the betrayal” 26
It will not hurt to remember that the UN Conference on Human Rights has stated, through the Vienna
Declaration (1993).
“Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings; their
27
protection and promotion is the first responsibility of Governments” [...] “It is the duty of
States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all
human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
As the Special Rapporteur has rightly said, in Latin America and the Caribbean progress has
been made in sexuality education at different levels, even though we are still far from the full
recognition of the right to holistic sexuality education for Latin American and Caribbean men
and women and from witnessing how our States fulfil their duties to respect, protect, guarantee
and promote this human right.
Even though it is possible to see the advances in Latin America and the Caribbean over a long-term
analysis, it is also true that in the day-to-day affairs of many of our countries, there is stagnation and
even clear regression in some contexts.
14
Sexuality education is the campus, the formative space where the contradictions between
fundamentalisms and women’s and sexual diversity movements, as well as large sections of teachers
and their unions, as well as the movements for the right to education, Indigenous and Afro-descendants
peoples, are expressed in all their crudity.
It could not be otherwise. What is at stake is nothing less than the control over the bodies of the
underdogs. Without our bodies, the whole system of domination would collapse. Those that our
feminist grandmothers called “obscurantists” also read Bourdieu, and know well that domination is
written on the body.
Raising their eyes to heaven, there are those who proclaim that sexuality education must be forbidden
in the name of preserving the innocence of children. And this in the midst of our hyper-sexualized
societies, in which TV and other media are creating increasingly younger “Lolitas”. Do they believe that
our children and adolescents are blind, that they live in a little crystal box and will be able to remain
virgins sine die or saecula saeculorum?
It is argued that the State should not interfere, as only the parents can assess if their sons and daughters
are ready for sexuality education. But statistics are persistent in showing that most young persons
do not speak about sex with their parents, while fathers and mothers avoid the subject because they
don’t know how to approach it. 28
Another well-worn argument is that sexuality education encourages promiscuity and risky sexual
relationships. On the contrary, scientific evidence shows that the use of contraceptives is higher, while
the rates of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections are lower in young persons who
have been exposed to early sexuality education.
I affirm freedom of conscience and the free expression of all beliefs, as an indivisible component of
Human Rights. If there are people who believe that sexuality’s only end is procreation and that it must
be practiced only within marriage, I give them my solidarity and my support so they can express these
ideas. But I do not think it’s fair for them to impose their rules on those of us who believe that sexuality
is not synonymous with procreation.
The conviction that sexuality education must be based on scientific evidence should be as clear as
the idea that the world is turning on its axis. However, both have been questioned and those who hold
them have been persecuted.
15
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Hearing the discourses on the intrinsic evil of condoms, while humanity is devastated by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic, reminds me of Giordano Bruno, burnt at the stake for stating that the Sun was the centre
of our system. Let us hope that soon we will be able to say, like Galileo, eppur si muove, and that the
fight against AIDS not be obstructed by these anathemas.
I am not disagreeing with the Rapporteur on this. I fully agree with his statement that sexuality education
should be understood as a means for individuals’ psychological shaping and happiness, not only as a
way of preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. I am only saying that the lack of
education leads to ignorance of sexual self-care habits which in turn increases the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The notion that speaking of sexuality ignites the start of sexual activity underlies many of the arguments
against providing sexuality education. This pseudo-argument does not take into account that young
women and men will seek to learn what the school and family deny them from their peers who are as
uninformed as they are. Faced with the silence of their families, how many times do our adolescents
seek information, getting “de-formed” in the process, from watching pornographic videos that are
available to them at a simple click? Needless to say, they will acquire sexual patterns and behaviours
that are extremely machistas, seeing women as objects to be used and mistreated.
The silence on sexuality leaves boys and girls helpless before sexual abuse that is, in most cases,
perpetrated by adults in their families.
As human rights defenders we cannot fail to condemn paedophilia, abuse and violations that have
often been perpetrated in religious schools and by a large number of priests.
Paedophilia is always an abhorrent crime violating human rights. And it is particularly serious because
the victim is always underage. Those cases are indeed outrageous because the perpetrators and
those covering up for them also build monuments to the foetus 29 to honour life or raise their voices
against non-conforming sexual preferences. These are the same people who remained mute and deaf
before the crimes against humanity committed by Dictatorships throughout our continent, among
whose victims were other priests and nuns, disappeared and murdered alongside thousands of other
democratic fighters of both sexes.
The crackdowns on sexual rights and reproductive rights, and in particular the battles around
sexuality education, are always led by the “usual suspects” – the Vatican hierarchy and the heads of
Neo-Pentecostal churches who aim at influencing the three powers of our States with their powerful
ideological, communicational and economic weapons. Opus Dei, Caballeros de Colón 30, Legionarios
de Cristo 31 and a long line of tele-pastors are investing more and more in the media, to reach more
people than they could from their shrines and pulpits.
This is a confrontation between a secular and scientific education, which is needed to further
16
democratize our democracies, and the most fundamentalist forces that, in order to retain the earthly
power that was confiscated by the modern State, keep imposing domination on our consciences,
feelings and bodies until we stop noticing it.
These forces reduce sexuality to reproduction and staunchly oppose an education unveiling the
differences between these two aspects of human experience. As the Special Rapporteur says, they
confuse pleasure with sin.
To reject holistic sexuality education is to advocate for it to be provided in the underground of

misinformation.
“Sexuality education is always happening. Always. The family, community, formal and informal educational institutions
are doing it all the time. Socialization and cultural processes convey values, beliefs, traditions, gender
stereotypes and roles, etc. This transmission ensures the shaping of those feelings by which we can
identify as being part of a particular society.
Sexuality education happens more implicitly than explicitly. Sexuality education is not simply providing
information. It is to build, develop, enhance, shape; to open roads.” 32
In this CLADEM publication, “The Wind on the Stone”, the preliminary report of the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the human right to holistic sexuality education, is accompanied by the Report
on Girls’ Education submitted by the same Rapporteur to the Commission on Human Rights in 2006.
This publication also includes the Declaration “Preventing through Education”, issued after the First
Meeting of Health and Education Ministers to Stop HIV and STDs in Latin America and the Caribbean that
took place in 2008 in Mexico. It expresses the commitment of our States in this matter, and we believe it
will be useful to all those interested in moving from words to action in the field of sexuality education.
“The Wind on the Stone” presents a powerful argument. It will certainly be of use to all those across
the world who are struggling to broaden the ways in which we experience life, to make it more and
more humane and pleasant.
September 28, 2010
Moriana Hernandez Valentini

Regional Coordinator for the Campaign for Non-Sexist and Antidiscriminatory Education / CLADEM
The author would like to thank her feminist colleagues Didice Godinho Delgado, Alejandra Sardá and Radhika
Chandiramani, who produced the translations in Portuguese and English at record speed.
17
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Notes
1 His first thematic report (2006), included in this publication, 7 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, para. 18. See also
was based on girls and women - and it was followed by reports paras. 36 to 44 in the same document.
based on persons living with disabilities (2007), persons living
in emergency situations and armed conflicts (2008), men and 8 Women constitute 90% of the civilian victims of armed conflicts,
women deprived of their liberty (2009) and the right to education and 80% of the refugees. In Colombia, women.
for migrants and refugees (2010).
9 Unfortunately,
the Spanish translation rendered these words - of
2 Chiarotti, Susana, Presentation “Los DESC desde la what would become the key motto for education - in the masculine
perspectiva de género”, Rosario, 2002. Available in: http:// form only.
www.americalatinagenera.org/tematica/derechos-publicacion_
detalle.php?IDPublicacion=105. 10 Torres,Rosa María, Una década de Educación para Todos: una
tarea pendiente. IIPE, FUM-TEP, Montevideo, 2000.
3 I use the fortunate term coined by Soledad Garcia Muñoz aimed
to “condense in a single word the phenomenon of gender – as 11 World Education Forum, “Dakar Framework for Action. Education
a notion and an analytical perspective – being mainstreamed for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments”, text adopted in April
into and impregnating the topic under analysis (international 26-28, 200, paras 5 and 6. make up 70% of those displaced.
human rights protections)”. García Muñoz, Soledad, “La
progresiva generización de la protección Internacional de 12 Chiarotti,
Susana, CLADEM’ Regional Coordinator, “Breves notas
los derechos humanos” Revista electrónica de estudios sobre los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio”. Available in: http://
internacionales, 2001. www.cladem.org/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&vie
w=file&task=download&id=1300%3Abreves-notassobre-los-
4 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and objetivos-de-desarrollo-del-milenio-odm&Itemid=382.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) were both adopted in 1966, even though they entered 13 Laterefforts and calls for attention to this matter were made by
into force ten years later. the Task Force on Equality between Men and Women, under the
United Nations Millennium Project.
5 Like Covenants, Conventions are mandatory for the States that
sign them. The most outstanding ones include the Convention 14 Id, footnote 12.
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965),
CEDAW (1979), Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), 15 Vargas,Virginia“Beijing más 15: más luces que sombras”,
International Convention on the Human Rights Protections Articulación Feminista Marcosur. Available in: http://www.flora.
for Migrant Workers and their Families (1990), United Nations org.pe/pdfs/beiging%2B15-gina-feb%202010.pdf
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000),
Convention on the Protection of All Persons against Forced 16 The International Civil Society Forum (FISC) is an autonomous and
Disappearances (2006) and Convention on the Rights of Persons independent space bringing together civil society organizations
with Disabilities (2006). working at the national, regional and international level, that
CLADEM has recently joined.
6 United Nation international or World Conferences are non-legally
binding commitments that morally bind those States taking 17 See for instance the MERCOSUR Social and Labour Charter, passed
part in them before the international community. They were: in 1998, that incorporates sexual preference among the reasons
World Summit for Children (New York, 1990); UN Conference for which discrimination in the labour market is inadmissible.
on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992); World Available in: http://www.cinterfor.org.uy/public/spanish/region/
Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1992); International ampro/cinterfor/temas/worker/doc/otros/iii/sgt_10.doc.
Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994);
World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995); 18 Fromour region: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995); Second UN Guatemala, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Conference on Human Settlements (Istanbul, 1996); World Food
Summit (Rome, 1996) and United Nations Diplomatic Conference 19 Data consulted on September 28, 2010, in the UN website.
of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Available in: http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=
Criminal Court (Rome, 1998). TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-3-a&chapter=4&lang=en
18
20 Article 18 of the Optional Protocol itself. 28 “Teacher,please you explain to her. I don’t know how to speak
of those things. My girl is growing up and there are things she
21 It is usually done through a law passed by the national Parliament needs to know so she will not just come to me one of these
and then promulgated by the Executive Power. days with a child, as I did to my Mum”. Testimony collected in
the course of a yet unpublished research study conducted by
22 Day of struggle for decriminalization of abortion in Latin America CLADEM-Uruguay.
and the Caribbean.
29 Thecrimes committed by Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of
23 Bourdieu, Pierre, “Más ganancia, menos cultura”. Available in http:// Legionarios de Cristo, who among other crimes repeteadly raped
pierre-bourdieu.blogspot.com/2006/07/msganancias-menos- and abused children, including his own.
culturapierre.html
30 The largest (1.8 million members from around the world) Catholic
24 Id.
The process of commodification has reached such a degree service organization in the world, founded in the USA in 1882 that
that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is discussing some fully endorses and supports Vatican policies.
measures for the commercial regulation of education.
31 Catholiccommunity created in Mexico in 1941, with a US$ 650
25 Fischman, Roseli, Estado Laico, Memorial da América Latina, million budget. It enjoyed the full support of Pope John Paul II and
Sao Pablo, 2009. has a secular arm with 70,000 members. After its founder had been
accused of paedophilia, (see footnote 29 above) Pope Benedictus
26 Le Pera, Alfredo, lyrics of the tango Amores de estudiantes. XVI decided in 2009 to launch an investigation of the group.
27 ViennaDeclaration and Programme of Action, Paras. 1 and 5. 32 Alicia Benitez, researcher for CLADEM-Uruguay in the
Bold ours. investigation quoted above.
19
20
Human right to holistic
sexuality education
Preliminary Report by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Vernor Muñoz
21
Estaba el viento sentado en una piedra

cansado de ser invisible.
Carlos Pellicer
* The wind was sitting on a stone tired of being invisible.
22
Introduction
During the period covered by my mandate as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, I have paid special attention to the situation of groups and individuals that historically have
been excluded and discriminated from access to educational opportunities.
For that reason, I submitted reports to the Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council
and the United Nations General Assembly on a variety of issues revealing the lack of State commitment
to education and the abysses between the legal rhetoric and the daily realities that millions of persons,
whose human right to education is denied, must face.
Invariably, the denial of this right exposes causes and conditions imposed by patriarchalism affecting
all persons, and girl children, female adolescents and women with particular brutality.
The lack of sexuality education has been a constant trend in educational projects. That is the reason
why I decided to submit a report on this matter at the 65th session of the United Nations General
Assembly that will take place in October 2010.
The process of drafting this report began several months ago, with the active involvement of several
non-governmental organizations, State institutions and agencies of the United Nations’ system.
This work has been made possible by the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of
Women’s Rights (CLADEM) whom I deeply thank for their help and above all their ongoing commitment
to women’s human rights.
I particularly thank Moriana Hernandez Valentini, Soledad Garcia Muñoz, Sebastian Munin and Nina
Oberbuehler, with whom I have had the privilege of working.
This document constitutes a preliminary report that will form the basis of the official version to be
submitted to the UN General Assembly, in conformity with the Human Rights Council Resolution No
8/4, passed in June 18, 2008.
The report looks in depth at current international standards on the topic and also social, cultural and
political conditioning that places sexual and reproductive rights in a situation of almost widespread
neglect by “modern” educational systems.
In spite of the long string of declarations and laws on gender equality and justice, educational systems
continue to be insensitive to holistic sexuality education, like the stones on which the wind stands for
a moment, that continue being impenetrable to and unmoved by it.
23
This issue has awakened our interest and concern since the beginning of my mandate as Special
Rapporteur and thus it constitutes the central topic of the last report of my mandate, as my work ends
on July 31, 2010.
Being aware of the concerns surrounding the subject matter of this report we affirm our respect for
the diversity of opinions that the issue arouses, highlighting that the Right to Sexuality Education is
based on human dignity and the International Human Rights Law.
States must guarantee that individuals’ access to adequate services and needed information is not
restricted; it is their obligation to remove the social and legal barriers to information on sexual and
reproductive health and care, as stated in the Cairo Conference on Population and Development’s
Programme of Action. In any case, parents and other legal guardians of the students must provide
adequate direction and guidance on sexual and reproductive issues.
Sexuality as an activity is intrinsic to human beings, encompassing multiple personal and social
dimensions. But due to several reasons – cultural as well as religious or ideological ones – that are
mostly related to the persistence of patriarchalism, this activity tends to remain hidden or linked
exclusively to reproduction.
As a democratic construction, the modern State must ensure that all its citizens access quality
education, without allowing religious institutions to establish educational or behavioural patterns that
they intend to apply not just to their believers but to the entire population, including those who do not
practise their faith. In this regard, I have noted with concern several episodes in which, in the name of
religious beliefs, sexuality education has been hindered and I dare to reiterate that holistic education
is a test for a democratic and pluralist environment.
Patriarchalism and control

As I have stated earlier, Patriarchalism is a system for social ordering that imposes male supremacy
over women while also prescribing strict roles for men and even dividing the genders against
themselves. Besides gender inequality, patriarchalism also hinders social mobility and stratifies
social hierarchies.
Thus, patriarchalism is a system that causes and perpetuates serious and systematic human rights
violations, like violence and discrimination against women. Education is a primary and key tool to
combat patriarchalism and to create the cultural change that is needed for equality among people.
When it is not organized in the proper way, the educational system produces the opposite result,
perpetuating injustice and discrimination.
24
One of the key means used by the patriarchal system and their agents to perpetuate its dominance is denying
people the opportunity to access human rights education with a gender and diversity perspective.
A complex process
Sexuality is a complex process that every human being, with no exception, builds throughout her
or his life, and that includes biological, psychological and cultural aspects that must be taken into
account in a holistic way.
The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health obviously includes
sexual health. The former Special Rapporteur on the Right of All Persons to Enjoy the Highest
Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, Mr. Paul Hunt, has defined sexual health as “a state
of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being related to sexuality, not merely the absence of
disease, dysfunction or infirmity; sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality
and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences,
free of coercion, discrimination and violence”.
To achieve that state of well-being, individuals need to be able to take care of our health, to live our
sexuality in a positive and responsible way, respecting others. And to achieve that we need to be aware
of our needs and rights. This is only possible if we receive a holistic sexuality education from the first
stages of our schooling and during the entire educational trajectory. To this end, the school must
encourage the students to engage in critical thinking on the different expressions of human sexuality
and interpersonal relationships, without reducing the topic to a biological lesson on reproduction.
As with all educational subjects, sexuality education must be adjusted to age and cultural differences.
Moreover, differential and flexible educational strategies must be implemented taking into account the
diverse needs of students and the existence of persons with special needs – like young people who are
not in the school system or young married women – who need to be educated for sexuality through
channels that are different from those of formal education. This is also the case of older persons who,
usually because of misconceptions, are being deprived of a full sexual life.
Holistic sexuality education becomes extremely important in the face of the threat of HIV/AIDS and
sexually transmitted diseases, particularly for those groups that are at risk and for individuals living in
particularly vulnerable situations like women and girls exposed to gender violence, or individuals with
scarce economic resources.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has stressed that “effective HIV/AIDS prevention requires
States to refrain from censoring, withholding or intentionally misrepresenting health-related
25
information, including sexual education and information, and that ... States parties must ensure that
children have the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others as they
begin to express their sexuality.”
There are no valid excuses to avoid providing the holistic sexuality education that individuals need to live
with dignity and in a healthy way. The realization of the right to sexuality education plays a fundamental
role in prevention; having received this education or not can be a question of life or death. Acknowledging
the need to educate the world’s population to prevent HIV/AIDS, we would also like to bring to light the
limited perspective on sexuality that results from restricting sexuality education to addressing sexually
transmitted diseases. In our view, reducing sexuality education to these issues might lead to the wrong
association between sexuality and illness, as damaging as its association with sin.
The notion of a human right to sexuality

education and its scope
UNESCO International Guidelines on Sexuality Education define it as “an age-appropriate, culturally
relevant approach to teaching about sex and relationships by providing scientifically accurate, realistic,
non-judgmental information. Sexuality education provides opportunities to explore one’s own values
and attitudes and to build decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills about many
aspects of sexuality.”
Likewise, we consider that pleasure and the enjoyment of sexuality, in a context of respect for others,
should be one of the approaches for Holistic Sexuality Education, eradicating those guilt-inducing
approaches to eroticism that restrict sexuality to the reproductive function.
In order to be holistic, sexuality education must provide the tools that are needed for decision making
in the field of sexuality consistent with the life project chosen by each human being in her/his context.
To this end, the kind of sexuality education imparted during childhood and youth plays a critical role.
In fact, decision-makers in the area of formal education should consider sexuality education as an
indispensable vehicle to strengthen education in general and increase the quality of life. As stated
earlier, sexuality education is “an essential component of a good curriculum”.
In spite of the attempts to avoid it, the reality is that we are always receiving information on sexuality,
by action or omission, through schools, families, communication media, etc. So, the decision not to
provide sexuality education in schools implies choosing a form of sexuality education by omission
that leaves girls, boys and adolescents to their own devices in terms of the type of knowledge and
messages – usually negative ones – that they will receive about sexuality.
26
When Sexuality Education is not explicitly provided, what is known as the hidden curriculum prevails
in educational practice, with its potential burden of bias and misinformation, on which no criticisms,
or social or family oversight are possible.
The path to wholeness

The right to education includes the right to sexuality education, that is in itself a human right and at
the same time an indispensable condition to ensure that individuals enjoy other human rights, like the
right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive rights.
Without sexuality education, serious restrictions are placed on the exercise of the right to education
and the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive rights. Thus, the right to holistic sexuality education is
part and parcel of the right to receive education on human rights.
In order for sexuality education to be holistic and fulfil its objectives, it must include a solid gender
perspective. Several studies have proved that young people who believe in gender equality have better
sexual lives. On the other hand, the intimate relationships of those who do not believe in gender
equality tend to be marked by inequality. This is why gender norms, roles and relationships must be
placed at the core of sexuality education.
We wish to clarify that gender issues do not concern women exclusively but also include men, who
can benefit from less rigid mandates and more egalitarian relationships.
When we affirm the need to integrate a gender perspective when programming and designing a
sexuality education curriculum, it must be understood that the dimension of masculinities must be
explicitly included. This is strategic to ensure the cultural change that human rights demand of our
societies, as sexuality education also aims at building affections and developing a transformative role
for men, going beyond the strictly genital and physical level.
In the search for wholeness, sexuality education must pay particular attention to diversity, because all
persons have the right to live their sexuality without being discriminated against on the basis of their
sexual orientation or gender identity.
Sexuality education is a decisive tool to end discrimination against those living their sexuality in ways
that differ from the mainstream one. A highly relevant doctrinary contribution in this regard are the
Yogyakarta Principles (2006) on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. We fully share the affirmations on Principle 16, addressing
specifically the human right to education.
27
The Right to Holistic Sexuality Education

in International Human Rights Law
International Standards
United Nations treaty bodies have addressed the lack of access to education on sexuality and
reproduction as a barrier to fulfilling the State obligation to guarantee the rights to life, health, non-
discrimination, education and information.16 For instance, the Human Rights Committee has urged
States to eliminate the barriers hindering access to information on safer sexual practices, such as
the use of condoms, by adolescents.17 The Committees have also identified sexuality education as a
means to guarantee the right to health, as it contributes to reducing the rates of maternal mortality,
abortion, teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.18
Overall, the treaty bodies explicitly recommend that education on sexual and reproductive health
be a mandatory element of the school curricula. For instance, the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women urges States to provide compulsory and systematic sexuality
education in schools, including vocational schools.19 The Committee on the Rights of the Child
has recommended that States include sexuality education in official primary and secondary
school curricula. 20
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child
have affirmed that the rights to health and information demand that States refrain from censoring,
hiding or willingly misrepresenting the information related to health, including sexuality education and
information related to it.21
In its Concluding Observations on a number of countries, the Committee on the Rights of the Child
has recommended that States integrate sexuality education in the school curricula;22 it has encouraged
States to provide training on HIV/AIDS and sexuality education to teachers and other education
personnel.23 Likewise, the Committee has criticized the barriers to sexuality education such as allowing
parents to exempt their children from receiving this education.24
In accordance with Article 3 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights
Committee, through their Concluding Observations, has expressed its concern for the elimination of
sexuality education from the school curricula,25 as well as for the high rate of unwanted pregnancies
and abortions among young women and adolescents, requesting that measures be adopted to help
young women avoid unwanted pregnancies, including by strengthening family planning and sexuality
education programmes.26
28
The Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights protects the right to the highest attainable level
of physical and mental health (Article 12), as well as the right to education (Article 13), forbidding any
kind of discrimination (Article 2). In its General Comment 14,27 the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights understands the right to health as including “not only timely and adequate health
care but also the determining factors of health”, among which “access to education and information
on health-related matters, including sexual and reproductive health”28 , are highlighted.
In its Concluding Observations, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has requested
the enforcement of education for sexual and reproductive rights.29 It has also specifically recommended
sexuality education as a means to ensure women’s right to health, particularly reproductive health,30 as
well as full access to sexuality education by all girls and young women, including those in rural areas
and Indigenous communities.31
The Committee has also recommended developing training programmes and counselling services on
reproductive health,32 and has understood sexuality education and sensitization campaigns as suitable
means to fight maternal and child mortality.33 The Committee has linked lack of education to the
practice of abortion as a primary means for family planning.34 It has also advocated for education
programmes oriented to eliminating female genital mutilation.35
In Article 24, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls States
to ensure an inclusive education system, guaranteeing the sense of dignity and self-worth, and the
development of the mental and physical abilities of persons with disabilities, to their fullest potential.
Likewise, in Article 25, it establishes that States “must provide persons with disabilities with the same
range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as provided to other
persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health”.
The Human Right to Holistic Sexuality

Education and Women’s Human Rights
Protecting the human right to holistic sexuality education becomes particularly relevant to ensure
women’s rights to a life free from gender-based violence and discrimination, considering the historically
unequal power relationships between men and women.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), imposes
on States the obligation to eliminate discrimination against women in all public or private spheres
affecting their lives, including in educational spaces. In Article 5, CEDAW calls State Parties to adopt
all adequate measures to change the patterns of conduct of men and women, “with a view to achieving
the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”.
29
Holistic Sexuality Education is an indispensable means to achieve that end. In Article 10 h), CEDAW
also affirms that States must guarantee women’s access to “specific educational information to help
ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning”.
In its General Recommendation 24, the CEDAW Committee requests that States inform on the
measures adopted to guarantee timely access to the whole range of services related to family planning
in particular and sexual and reproductive health in general.
The CEDAW Committee continuously calls State Parties to implement sexuality education programmes.
The Committee has also recommended expanding sexual and reproductive health programmes as a
necessary means to address high abortion and maternal mortality rates.
The Committee has encouraged State Parties to provide systematic sexuality education in schools,
and has explicitly requested that efforts to prevent teenage pregnancy be redoubled, including by
providing education about responsible relationships and parenthood to boys and girls.
In the American region, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence
Against Women (Belem do Para Convention) establishes in Article 6.b that the right of women to a
life free from violence includes the right to “be valued and educated free of stereotyped patterns of
behavior and social and cultural practices based on concepts of inferiority or subordination”.
The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa affirms the right to have family planning education in
Article 14.1 g), while Article 14.2.a) establishes the State obligation to provide adequate, affordable
and accessible health services, including information, education and communication programmes to
women, especially those in rural areas.
Relevant Initiatives for the Human

Right to Holistic Sexuality Education
The Right to Holistic Sexuality Education is also supported by recommendations and decisions
issued by international bodies, as well as by documents reflecting global consensus among States.
For instance, the Program of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD), acknowledges that sexual and reproductive health education must begin in
primary school and be continued throughout the formal and informal educational levels.
The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has come to the conclusion that the most
effective approaches to sexuality education are those providing education to young people before the
onset of sexual activity.
30
For the World Health Organization (WHO), the early start of sexuality education is critical.44 WHO has
also provided specific guidance on how sexuality education should be incorporated into the school
curricula and recommends that sexuality education be taught as a separate subject, rather than being
integrated with others.45
Moreover, holistic sexuality education is a critical tool to achieve several of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), like those linked to promoting equality between the genders and women’s autonomy
(Goal 3), reducing child mortality (Goal 4), improving maternal health (Goal 5) and combating HIV/
AIDS (Goal 6).
The European Committee of Social Rights has developed important standards on the right to sexuality
education in a paradigmatic case46 , in which it stated that the State Parties to the European Social Charter
have the obligation to provide a scientific and non-discriminatory basis to the sexuality education
imparted to youth, that refrains from censoring, hiding or willingly misrepresenting information,
including that related to contraception.
The Committee recommended that such education be provided throughout the schooling period. It
affirmed that sexual and reproductive health education must aim at developing the skills of girls, boys
and young people to understand their sexuality in its biological and cultural dimensions, so they can
make responsible decisions in their sexual and reproductive health behaviour. In its decision, the
Committee considered that States have the obligation to ensure that sexuality education programs do
not reinforce stereotypes or encourage bias with regards to sexual orientation.
States have the duty to provide Holistic Sexuality Education to its populations, particularly girls, boys
and adolescents, fulfilling the standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability
that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has established in relation to the right
to education.47
This State obligation is a matter of due diligence, because under international law States must show
that they have indeed taken all the preventive measures needed to fulfil their obligations to guarantee
the rights to health, life, non-discrimination, education and information, through the elimination
of barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health, providing holistic sexuality education in
schools and other educational spaces that includes accurate, objective and bias-free information.48
The Declaration “Preventing through Education”49 , signed by the Education and Health Ministers of
Latin America and the Caribbean in 2008, is a good example of States recognizing their due diligence
obligation in the matter.
The Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth establishes in Article 23 the Right to Sexuality
Education and states that “1. States Parties recognise that the right to education also includes the right
31
to sexuality education as a source of personal, affective development and communicative expression,

as well as to information concerning reproduction and its consequences; 2. Sexuality education
shall be taught at all educational levels and shall promote a responsible conduct in the exercise of
sexuality, aiming at full acceptance of their personality and identity by young people, as well as at the
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies and sexual abuse or
violence; 3. States Parties recognise the important role and responsibility which corresponds to the
family regarding sexuality education of youth; 4. States Parties shall adopt and implement sexuality
education policies, establishing plans and programmes which assure information and the full and
responsible exercise of this right.”50
The Situation of the Right to Holistic

Sexuality Education From a Perspective
of State Responsibility
Country and regional trends observed
In Latin America and the Caribbean only three countries (Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica) have
specific high-level legislation on sexuality education in schools. In most countries (Bolivia, Dominican
Republic, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela)
there is medium-level legislation, while the laws in three countries are of lesser level (Haiti, Mexico
and Panama). Nine countries report absolutely no legislation on the issue (Antigua and Barbuda,
Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago).51
However, it is evident that the presence of legislation does not imply effective implementation of
educational programs.
In a great majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries, school curricula are developed by
professionals specialized in Pedagogical Sciences, Psychology and Medicine, while Holistic Sexuality
Education policies are implemented mostly by teachers.52 It is worth highlighting the role played by
Education and Health Ministries in many of the countries across the region.
In the case of Europe, sexuality education is compulsory in 19 of their 27 Member States.

The prescribed age to begin accessing this content goes from five to fourteen years of age.53
Responsibilities for the design and execution of public policies on Sexuality Education are assigned
to different State bodies across the region. In some cases, it is the Ministry of Education that is
in-charge, while in those countries where sexuality education is understood in a broader sense,
there are several State agencies involved in the process. 54 In most cases, teachers are responsible
for implementing the programs.
32
We have noticed that in this region the quality of the education provided does not vary too much across
countries but it does so domestically. That is why the role that the Ministries of Education and Health
are called to play guaranteeing the universality of these policies is understood as central. However,
a serious deficit has been noted in the training of teachers, enabling the reproduction of stereotyped
and even discriminatory notions. This gap damages the teachers’ confidence in their ability to provide
quality educational opportunities in the area of holistic sexuality.
According to a study conducted for the International Congress on AIDS for Asia and the Pacific
(ICAAP),55 most countries in East Asia have sexuality education policies, with several of them dating
from the early 90s.
Among the cases studied, the most widely implemented policies in the matter were those of Papua New
Guinea, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand. Since then, progress in the implementation of public policies
and national laws has been recorded in several countries.56 However, even though some form of sexuality
education is provided in the region, most young persons are not taught holistic sexuality education.57
Even though several countries in this region report having education policies related to HIV, relatively
few approach the issue in a holistic way, as they seldom address human rights, values, life skills
and community involvement.58 Lack of links with strategic sectors such as health professionals or
relevant communities for the design, implementation and evaluation of the developed policies has
also been observed.
In the case of Africa, several countries do not provide any type of planned Sexuality Education.
According to some studies, families feel uncomfortable to speak of sexuality with their children, but
young persons still receive some kind of information in an informal manner, through acquaintances
or HIV prevention programmes.59
A UNESCO study shows that in 2004, 19 out of 20 African countries with the highest HIV prevalence
included the issue in their primary school curricula, while 17 also provided life-skills educational
programs. However, it has been noted that implementation was very slow and failed to reach those
outside the formal education system.60
In relation to official school curricula, in Latin America and the Caribbean the information on sexuality
tends to be approached as a cross-cutting theme. According to a systematization of how priority
issues were approached at the primary school level, conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Salud
Pública de Cuernavaca (Cuernavaca, Mexico, National Institute of Public Health), Guyana, Jamaica,
Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay address all relevant issues. Nine countries cover five of
those issues, six take into account four issues, five report addressing three and one includes only one
of the six topics in its curricula.61
33
In Europe, Sexuality Education is provided in a cross-cutting way. For instance in Portugal it is

included in Biology, Geography, Philosophy and Religion lessons, while in Belgium, the moral and
ethical aspects of sexuality are addressed in Moral and Religion lessons. In Denmark, Estonia and to
a lesser extent also in France, it is included in Citizenship Studies, providing a broader perspective of
the field studied. Other countries implement it from a biological perspective. While focussing on the
biological aspects of sexuality enhances the importance of health education, it also tends to put aside
the relational and affective dimensions, weakening the holistic perspective.
Even though students favour interactive methods, in Europe traditional teaching methods still prevail,
even though in some cases mass media, Internet, videos, games and theatre are also employed.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Sexuality Education tends to be included in subjects like Biology, Science and
Health. All countries in the region say that they provide HIV education at the secondary level, while six state
that it is also included in their primary school curricula62 and thirteen include it also in teacher’s training
curricula.63 However, in some countries of the region, Sexuality Education is restricted to the biological or
moral approaches, ignoring the wide range of dimensions in which it affects people’s lives.64
The experiences of Cambodia are worth highlighting, as it has an increasingly solid legal framework
and continues to make progress towards implementing Sexuality Education, with budget increases
for the area and integration of a gender perspective into the educational process. Thailand includes
Sexuality Education in the compulsory curricula since 1978 and has developed a manual for Muslim
students. Since 2000, Vietnam shows a sustained commitment to including content on HIV prevention
and reproductive health in the compulsory curricula for 10-12 year old girls and boys, and as an
optional subject for 6-9 year olds.
According to the International Bureau of Education, ten out of eighteen Sub-Saharan African countries
include the issue of HIV/AIDS as compulsory in their primary school curricula.65 However, in many
African countries adolescents have no access to information on sexuality.66.
Through several studies conducted in the region,67 it has been estimated that almost half of those
receiving sexuality education did not access information on some of the core issues (contraception,
pregnancy and its prevention, sexually transmitted diseases – STDs, refusal to have sex).
It has been stated that in most cases, Sexuality Education is provided through lectures and very
seldom more effective tools – like those of an interactive and relational nature – are used.
There is no unified trend in the region about the form in which content is integrated into the official
curricula. In some cases, like that of Namibia, it is included on the topic of Life Skills, but the content
on HIV is insufficient or inadequate and there is a need to strengthen it.68
34
According to a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, almost half of 15-19 year olds in Burkina
Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda, have received some form of sexuality education at school.69
In Malawi, 66% of young people and 56% of young men aged 15-19 who attend school report not to
have received any form of Sexuality Education. In Burkina Faso, the challenge is greater, considering
that more than half of 15-19 year old boys and girls have never attended school.70 Also, towards the
end of primary education (12-14 years of age) girls are entering their sexually active years and must
have specific knowledge about how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and avoid HIV infection. This
indicates that Sexuality Education must begin before the end of primary school in order to have any
degree of effectiveness and to change harmful behaviours.
Finally, it is important to highlight the experience of Denmark where teachers are trained on sexuality
education in partnership with the Sexuality and Society Association. I believe this case is a good example
of collaboration between the State and civil society in the search for tools to encourage and expand
Sexuality Education for the entire population. The valuable initiatives developed by the Latin American and
Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights (CLADEM) must also be mentioned.
Sexuality Education as a Response

to Several World Pandemics
It is estimated that towards the end of 2008, 33.4 million people were living with HIV globally, while
the number of deaths attributed to AIDS were estimated at about 2 million, 300,000 of which were of
boys and girls.71
A number of studies have shown a growing link between violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
Women who have experienced violence are at higher risk of contracting HIV.72 The need to provide
Sexuality Education to the population as a mechanism for prevention has been repeatedly stressed.
HIV/AIDS shows in a very clear way the close relationship that exists between the Right to Holistic
Sexuality Education and the rights to health and life.
Another pandemic that is afflicting all of humanity is violence against women. It is estimated that at least
one out of three women around the world has been battered or abused – sexually or otherwise – in the
course of her life. As a countermeasure, women’s empowerment, of which Sexuality Education is a critical
aspect, is a powerful defence against human rights violations affecting girls and female adolescents.73
As a complementary notion, men who have received an adequate sexuality education acquire values
like solidarity, justice and respect for the integrity of others and are less likely to resort to sexual and
gender violence.
35
Different Approaches
Unfortunately, the rights perspective is seldom found in Sexuality Education programs, as in most cases
it is reduced to preventing STDs, HIV or unwanted pregnancies. Even though that content is needed for
the enjoyment of the right to health in the first place and for the decision on how to plan one’s family in
the second place, these can never be the main reason to implement Sexuality Education in the school
curricula. While linked to other rights under the principle of the interdependency and indivisibility of human
rights, the right to Sexuality Education must also be understood as a right in itself.
Another frequent gap in the Sexuality Education curricula is disability. Persons living with disabilities
are often considered incompetent or dangerous for themselves, a conception that is groundless.
Those biased views, combined with laws and practices restricting their legal and acting capacity, often
endanger their right to informed consent,74 based on the misguided assumption that persons living with
disabilities lack sexual desire and fail to engage in intimate relationships. As a result, they are denied a
core aspect of their personality, as sexuality is, and the right to seek pleasure and happiness.
Sexuality Education must be free from bias and stereotypes justifying discrimination and violence
against any particular group and that is the rationale for including a gender perspective in Sexuality
Education, enabling individuals to function with a critical view of the reality surrounding them.
Both the hidden and omitted curricula play a key role in reproducing among girls and boys those
inequalities that are typical of patriarchal models and drastically reducing their possibilities for full
development.75 Sexuality Education must promote a review of stereotyped roles assigned to masculinity
and femininity, in such a way that real equality between persons can be achieved.
We consider Sexuality Education as a space where rights are exercised and also potentially violated. One
example is the violence suffered by women subjected to genital mutilation, an abhorrent practice that
pretends to be justified by tradition and implies a terrible violence and violation against women who see
themselves trespassed, mutilated, and denied their physical integrity, health and right to pleasure.
In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, gender issues have an important presence at all
educational levels. However, the regional average shows that States are not yet contemplating the
issue of sexual inequality in all its aspects in their formal curricula. It is also noticed that the topic of
discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual preference is practically not included in school
curricula across the region. Only Uruguay reports including it in all its programmes, while Colombia
and Argentina report it is addressed in most programmes.76
For a number of years already, the masculinity perspective has been recognized as an important
dimension in gender analysis, as well as an area of intervention towards gender equality. It must be
36
taken into account that patriarchy affects all persons, by naturalizing and stereotyping roles that result
in the imposition of needs, ways of feeling and being. But, like any other social construct, it can be
changed. Both men and women must engage in this important and difficult task in a framework of
gender solidarity and for this reason it must be explicitly addressed in education programs.
The importance of addressing sexual diversity must be highlighted in relation to the gender
perspective. Unfortunately, the programmes or curricula including this perspective – wherever
Sexuality Education is being implemented – are scarce. The Yogyakarta Principles that were
mentioned earlier are a critical tool to include a diversity perspective in public policies that must be
taken into account in the field of education.
Unfortunately, certain types of programmes have proved to be scarcely effective for achieving the
stated goals. One example are the programmes based on a single perspective that is not integrated
with others. Programmes focusing exclusively on abstinence as the only method raise several
problematic issues,77 as they deny students the right to access accurate information to make informed
and responsible decisions.
Additionally, programs focusing on abstinence-only marginalize millions of young people who have
already engaged in sexual relationships, discouraging informed and responsible decision-making as
in the case of the abstinence-until-marriage programs. We consider that these types of programs
naturalize, stereotype and promote discriminatory models, as they are based on heteronormativity,
denying the existence of lesbian, gay, transsexual, transgender and bisexual populations and thus
exposing them to risky practices or discrimination.
From an age perspective, we find an important gap in addressing sexuality education for adults and
older people, as they are usually not taken into account in States’ educational policies. However, in the
last decades we have witnessed important changes in adult education, in the light of the continuing
education principle. The Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning, adopted under the patronage of
UNESCO in 1997, highlights the importance of Sexuality Education for adults and the commitment
to “training people to exercise their human rights, including the right to sexuality education, and
encouraging a responsible and supportive attitude toward others”.
Families and communities

One of the key challenges to achieve change in conduct and attitudes through education is the need
for commitment on the part of families and communities, avoiding the false dichotomy that places the
family in conflict with the State, when the latter is fulfilling its duty to guarantee the right to Holistic
Sexuality Education.
37
Studies have shown that in some countries, one third of young people and one fifth of those who are
15-19 years old state they have never discussed issues related to sexuality with their parents.78
There are, then, more than enough reasons on the ground and in the international legal framework
to oppose those movements demanding that States withdraw from their obligation to provide
Sexuality Education in the name of an assumed, and in most cases non-existent, education
provided by the family.
We wish to highlight the important role played by families and communities in shaping individual
identities. However, we also would like to remember that States have the unavoidable obligation to
guarantee an education that is free from bias and stereotypes. As a socializing space, school enables
access to alternative perspectives and thus, in terms of Sexuality Education, the roles of States and
families are complementary and do not exclude each other.
Even though fathers and mothers are free to choose the type of education for their sons and daughters,
because of the prevalence of the principle affirming the best interests of the child, this prerogative can
never go against the rights of boys, girls and adolescents.
This implies the need to generate spaces in which all models and opinions can find their place in
the educational process. Particularly in the case of Sexuality Education, individuals have the right to
access scientific and quality information, free of bias and according to their age, to facilitate their full
development and prevent potential physical and psychological abuse.
Another concern raised around Sexuality Education is the respect for a community’s cultural and
religious values. In this sense, Holistic Sexuality Education necessarily assumes a value-perspective
and can include different ethical considerations from a pluralistic perspective, but must also be
based in scientific evidence and promote the integration of individuals into a more democratic and
equal society.
A challenge for educational systems and communities is to be able to work together and create a
space where different groups can raise their concerns, without imposing any private morality as an
obligation for the entire population in the public sphere, as it conspires against the possibility to
freely choose one’s way of life. We have learnt of several cases in which scientific sexuality education
programmes, that had been previously designed and approved, were never implemented because of
undue influence by a Church, and this is a matter for concern.
38
Conclusions and recommendations
International human rights standards clearly recognize the human right to holistic sexuality education
that is indivisible from the right to education and key to the effective enjoyment of the rights to life,
health, information and non-discrimination, among others.
States must organize themselves to be able to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to Holistic
Sexuality Education, acting with due diligence and adopting all necessary measures to ensure its
effective enjoyment without any discrimination, from the early stages of human life. The absence of a
planned, democratic and pluralistic Sexuality Education is in itself a model of Sexuality Education (by
omission), with implications that are remarkably negative for people’s lives, and uncritically reproduce
patriarchal practices, notions, values and attitudes that are the source of multiple discriminations.
The right to Sexuality Education is particularly relevant to empower women and girls and ensure the
full enjoyment of their human rights. As such, it is one of the best tools to confront the consequences
of the dominant patriarchal system that tend to perpetuate discrimination and violence against women,
by changing socio-cultural behavioural patterns that influence both men and women.
In all regions there is progress in the field of Sexuality Education, even though the lack of wholeness and
sustainability of public policies on the issue, the dilution of its content throughout the school curricula
and the failure to integrate gender, sexual diversity, disability and non-discrimination perspectives in
its implementation are reasons for concern.
We have taken note, with particular concern, of several episodes in which in the guise of religious
notions, sexuality education has been hindered and we take the liberty to reiterate that systematic
education guarantees a democratic and plural environment.
In the implementation of Sexuality Education, two modalities can be observed: either it is provided
as a cross-cutting theme or as a specific subject in the curricula. According to our studies, the global
trend is moving towards Sexuality Education being a cross-cutting theme in primary school and to a
lesser extent even in secondary school.
Sexuality Education is linked to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted
pregnancies, which is needed but cannot constitute the basis of State policies that must consider
Sexuality Education as a right in itself.
There are vast sectors of the population that are excluded from Sexuality Education policies and the
States need to increase their efforts to reach those who are excluded from the educational system.
39
In relation to the curricula, it has been noticed that programmes based on erroneous and incomplete
notions still exist, and that the obligation to provide a scientific, democratic, pluralistic, bias- and
stereotype-free education is not being respected.
On the way in which the subject is addressed, traditional educational strategies still prevail, like
the lecture, even though in a few cases more dynamic and participative forms are being slowly
incorporated.
A general problem is the result of a deficit in teachers’ training that encourages the reproduction of
stereotypical and even discriminatory notions. This gap affects the confidence of teachers in their
ability to deal adequately with their task.
Lastly, failures in terms of follow-up and monitoring of sexuality education policies have also
been observed.
On the basis of these conclusions, I would like

to present the following recommendations
To the States:
a) To eliminate existing legal or constitutional barriers in order to ensure their populations can enjoy
the right to Holistic Sexuality Education, adopting and strengthening laws that aim at guaranteeing this
right without any discrimination, regardless of the circumstances.
b) To promote the development and implementation of holistic and sustainable public policies with
the specific aim to guarantee the human right to holistic sexuality education for their populations.
These policies must include rights, gender and respect for diversity as perspectives; ensure inter-
institutional articulation and links with civil society, and also be provided with the necessary resources
for its implementation.
c) See to the inclusion of Holistic Sexuality Education from the primary level, in the light of the rates
of admittance to secondary school, the age for the start of sexual activity and other variables, in
a framework of respect and adaptability according to the age and the skills that correspond to the
emotional and cognitive development of the students.
d) To guarantee the inclusion and deepening of a holistic perspective that is not focused exclusively
on Biology, in the curricular development and in educational content related to Sexuality Education,
40
ensuring the inclusion of gender, human rights, new masculinities, diversity and disability perspectives,
among others.
e) To ensure a quality and specialized teacher’s training, in an institutional environment that provides
support and confidence to teachers, under a curricular framework of medium and long-term
projects.
f) To promote and incorporate different strategies through working with agents that are complementary
to the school system, such as the media, civil society organizations, peer educators, health centres
and agents.
g) To promote, under the framework of Holistic Sexuality Education, respect for the criteria of cultural
and age appropriateness.
h) To favour the inclusion of families and communities as strategic allies in developing and implementing
the curricula, from a pluralistic perspective and respecting the obligation to provide holistic education,
with scientific and updated information, based on evidence and human rights standards.
i) To take note of the “Preventing through Education” Declaration signed by the Education Ministers
of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2008; own the commitments made in it and promote a similar
initiative in the context of the UN.
j) To see that Holistic Sexuality Education is provided to the entire school population with the same
standards of quality throughout the national territory.
I also recommend
a) To the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: to keep providing assistance to the
human rights mechanisms with an aim to analyze and investigate specific problems related to barriers
and challenges to the effective fulfilment of the right to Holistic Sexuality Education.
b) To the Human Rights Council: in the context of the Universal Periodic Review, to request information
from States on the progress and problems faced to guarantee the right to Holistic Sexuality Education
to their populations.
c) To national Human Rights Institutions and civil society: to actively participate in the development
of Holistic Sexuality Education programmes and to help in monitoring their implementation and
increasing awareness in their regard.
41
Notes
1 See for instance the Report on Girls’ Right to Education, E/ and Gender Identity”. In the same year, the United Nations General
CN.4/2006/45. Assembly issued a statement on the matter. International case law
has also addressed the issue of discrimination based on sexual
2 A good summary of these concerns can be found in: UNESCO, orientation or gender identity. Cases like Toonen v. Australia at
“International guidelines on sexuality education: An evidence the Human Rights Committee and Dudgeon v. United Kingdom
informed approach to effective sex, relationships and HIV/STI and S.L. v. Austria at the European Court of Human Rights are
education”, 2009, p.14 onwards. remarkable in this sense..
3 Cairo Conference on Population and Development, Program of 15 Available at http://www.yogyakartaprinciples.org

Action, para. 7.45.
16 Treaties
protecting the rights to life, health, non-discrimination,
4 E/CN.4/2006/45, para. 17-18. education and information include the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International
5 E/CN.4/2004/49, para. 53-54. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
6 VID BRUCE J and CHONG E., The Diverse Universe of Adolescents, (CEDAW), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
and the Girls and Boy Left Behind: A Note on Research, Program Discrimination (CERD), Convention on the Rights of the Child
and Policy Priorities, United Nations Millennium Project, 2006, (CRC), Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
<http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/Bruce_and_ Workers and Members of their Families and the Convention on the
Chong-final.pdf>, accessed Aug. 31, 2007 p.34; BURNS AA et al., Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Reaching out-of-school youth with reproductive health and HIV/
AIDS information and services, Youth Issues Paper, Arlington, 17 COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
VA, USA: Family Health International (FHI), 2004, No. 4: p.9 (ESCR Committee), Concluding Observations on Zambia,
E/C.12/1/Add.106 (2005), para. 53; COMMITTEE ON HUMAN
7 UNAIDS, “Update on the AIDS Epidemic, December 2009”. RIGHTS, Concluding Observations on Poland, para. 11, CCPR/
Available in: http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2009/2009_ C/79/Add.110 (1999).
epidemic_update_es.pdf.
18 CEDAW COMMITTEE: Concluding Observations on Belize,
8 General Comment 3, para.16. para. 56, A/54/38 (1999); Concluding Observations on
Lithuania para. 25, CEDAW/C/LTU/CO/4 (2008); Concluding
9 UNESCO, “International guidelines on sexuality education…” Op. Observations on Nigeria, para. 33, CEDAW/C/NGA/CO/6
cit., p. 2. (2008). COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: see,
for instance, Concluding Observations on Colombia, para.
10 Ibidem, p.10. 48, CRC/C/15/Add.137 (2000); Concluding Observations
on Ethiopia, para. 61, CRC/C/15/Add.144 (2001). ESCR
11 ESCR Committee, General Comment 13 (E/C.12/1999/10). COMMITTEE: see, for instance, Concluding Observations
on Honduras, para. 27, E/C.12/1/Add.57 (2001); Concluding
12 Cf. FACIO, Alda, “Los derechos reproductivos son derechos Observations on Senegal, para. 47, E/C.12/1/Add.62 (2001);
humanos”, published by Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Concluding Observations on Ukraine, para. 31, U.N. Doc.
Humanos. See also: ICHR, “Sexuality and Human Rights. E/C.12/1/ Add.65 (2001).
Discussion Paper”; at http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/47/137_
web.pdf. 19 CEDAW COMMITTEE : Concluding Observations on Moldova,
para. 31, CEDAW/C/MDA/CO/3 (2006); Concluding Observations
13 See, Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos, “VIII on Turkmenistan, para. 31, CEDAW/C/TKM/CO/2 (2006).
Informe Interamericano sobre la Educación en Derechos
Humanos”, San José, 2009. 20 COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, Concluding
Observations on Antigua and Barbuda, para. 54, U.N. Doc. CRC/
14 On May 31, 2008, the 38th General Assembly of the OAS approved C/15/Add.247 (2004); Concluding Observations on Trinidad and
by consensus a resolution on “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation Tobago, para. 54, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/TTO/CO (2006).
42
21 ESCR COMMITTEE, General Comment 14, The Right to 36 CEDAW COMMITTEE, General Recommendation 24, Women and
the Highest Attainable Level of Health, page 34, U.N. Doc. Health, A/54/38/Rev.1 (1999).
E/C.12/2000/4 (2000); COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE
CHILD, General Comment 3, HIV/AIDS and the Rights of the 37 CEDAW COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on the Bolivarian
Child, para. 13, U.N. Doc. CRC/GC/2003/3 (2003). Republic of Venezuela, CEDAW/C/VEN/CO/6 (2006), para. 32;
Burundi, A/56/38 (2001), para. 62; Democratic Republic of Congo,
22 COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding A/55/38 (2000), para. 280; Spain, U.N. Doc. A/54/38 (1999), para.
Observations on Mauritius, CRC/C/MUS/CO/2 (2006), para. 266; Estonia, U.N. Doc. A/57/38 (2002), para. 112; Mongolia,
55; Nepal, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/15/Add.261 (2005), para. 64(c); U.N. Doc. A/56/38 (2001), para. 274; United Kingdom, U.N. Doc.
New Zealand, CRC/C/15/Add. 216 (2003), para. 38(b); Russian A/54/38 (1999), paras. 309-310.
Federation, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/Rus/Co/3 (2005), para. 56;
Thailand, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/THA/CO/2, para. 58(e) (2006). 38 CEDAW COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Romania,
CEDAW/C/ROM/CO/6 (2006), paras. 24-25.
23 COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding
Observations on Benin, CRC/C/BEN/CO/2 (2006), para. 58 39 CEDAW COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Turkmenistan,
(h); Thailand, CRC/C/THA/CO/2 (2006), para. 58(e); Tanzania, CEDAW/C/TKM/CO/2 (2006), paras. 30-31.
CRC/C/TZA/CO/2 (2006), para. 49 (b).
40 CEDAW COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Chile,
24 COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding
CEDAW/C/CHI/CO/4 (2006), para. 18.
Observations on Ireland, CRC/C/IRL/CO/2 (2006), para. 52.
41 WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) “Family Life, Reproductive
25 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on
Poland, CCPR/C/79/Add.110 (1999), para. 11. Health and Population Education: Key Elements of a Health-
Promoting School, Information Series on School Health Doc. 8.
26 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), Intensifying
Lithuania, CCPR/CO/80/LTU (2004), para. 12. VIH Prevention: UNAIDS Policy Position Paper 33 (2005); Cairo
Program of Action, para.7.5 (a).
27 E/C.12/2000/4 (2000).
42 Cairo Program of Action, para. 11.9.
28 Ibid. para. 11. See also para 12, 14, 21 and 23.
43 UNAIDS, Impact of HIV and Sexual Health on the Sexual Behaviour
29 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Bolivia, of Young People: A Review Update 27, 1997.
E/C.12/11/Add.60 (2001), para. 43; Guatemala, E/C.12/1/Add.93
(2003), para. 43; Senegal, E/C.12/1/Add.62 (2001), para. 47; 44 WHO, Adolescent Pregnancy Report, 2004.
Ukraine, E/C.12/1/Add.65 (2001), para. 31.
45 WHO, Family Life, supra.
30 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Poland,
E/C.12/1/Add.26 (1998), para. 20. 46 European Committee of Social Rights, International Centre for the
Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) v. Croatia, Complaint
31 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Mexico, No. 45/2007.
E/C.12/MEX/CO/4 (2006), para. 44.
47 E/C.12/1999/10, para. 6.
32 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Honduras,
E/C.12/1/Add.57 (2001), para. 48. 48 E/CN.4/2006/61, 2006, paras. 32 and 80.
33 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Moldova, 49 http://www.censida.salud.gob.mx/descargas/pdfs/declaracion.pdf.

E/C.12/1/Add.91 (2003), para. 49.
50 http://www.oij.org/
34 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Armenia,
E/C.12/1/Add.39 (1999), para. 15. 51 UNFPA, UNESCO, Educación sexual para la prevención del VIH en
Latinoamérica y el Caribe: diagnóstico regional. Instituto Nacional
35 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Benin, E/C.12/1/ De Salud Pública, México, 2008.
Add.78, (2002), para. 31; Senegal, E/C.12/1/Add.62 (2001), para. 39.
43
52 DE MARÍA LM, GALÁRRAGA O, CAMPERO L, WALKER DM. 65 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION and UNESCO Assessment
Educación sobre sexualidad y prevención del VIH: un diagnóstico of Curriculum Response in 35 Countries for the EFA Monitoring Report
para América Latina y el Caribe; Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2005: “The Quality Imperative,” Geneva, 2004, p.37.
2009;26(6):485–93.
66 ESERE, M. O. “HIV/AIDS awareness of in-school adolescents
53 At 5 in Portugal; 6 in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Ireland and in Nigeria: Implications for adolescent sexuality”, in Journal of
Sweden; 7 in the Czech Republic and Finland; 9 in Germany; Psychology in Africa, 16(2), 255 – 258, 2006.
10 in Austria, Estonia, Greece and Hungary; 11 in Iceland and
Latvia; 12 in Denmark, Norway and Slovakia; and at 13 in 67 GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE, “National Survey of Adolescents,
the Netherlands. Occasional Report, 2004/2006”, New York.
54 Ibídem. 68 NAMIBIA HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTRY, “UNGASS

Country Report Reporting Period 2008-2009”, 2010, p. 20.
55 Organized by UNESCO, UNICEF and UNFPA.
69 BIDDLECOM AE et al, « Protecting the Next Generation in Sub-
56 UNESCO, UNICEF & UNFPA, Enhancing HIV Prevention for Saharan Africa: Learning from Adolescents to Prevent HIV and
Adolescents through effective Health and Sexuality Education. Unintended Pregnancy”, Guttmacher Institute, 2007, p. 4
Report of the Special Session. 9th International Congress on
AIDS In Asia and the Pacific, Bali, Indonesia. 2009. 70 Ibídem, p. 27.
57 Ibídem. 71 AIDSEpidemic Update 2009. Available at http://www.unaids.org/

en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/EpiUpdate/EpiUpdArchive/2009/
58 Ibídem. default.asp
59 FRANCOEUR, RT and NOONAN, RJ “Botswana. International 72 Report on Violence against Women. UNIFEM. 2007. Available at: http://
Encyclopedia of Sexuality”; Kinsey Institute, 2004. In: http:// www.unifem.org/attachments/gender_issues/violence_against_
www.kinseyinstitute.org/ccies/bw.php women/facts_figures_violence_against_women_2007_en.pdf
60 UNESCO, “Education Sector Global HIV & AIDS Readiness 73 See http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT77/001/2008.
Survey 2004: Policy Implications for Education & Development”,
Paris, pp. 41,61 74 A/64/272. p. 21, 2009.
61 Educación sobre sexualidad y prevención del VIH: un diagnóstico 75 SANTOS GUERRA, Miguel Ángel, “Curriculum Oculto y Construcción
paraa América Latina y el Caribe, Op. cit. del Género en la Escuela”, Universidad de Málaga, España.
62 Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and 76 Educaciónsobre sexualidad y prevención del VIH: un diagnóstico
Vietnam. para América Latina y el Caribe, op. cit.
63 PLAN INTERNATIONAL, “Sexuality education in Asia: Are we 77 SANTELI et al., “Abstinence-only education policies and programs:
delivering? An assessment from a rights-based perspective”, 2010. A position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine”, in
Journal of Adolescent Health Nº 38, 2006.
64 Ibidem.
78 Op. cit. BIDDLECOM AE E et al., 2007, p. 37.
44
Economic, social and cultural rights
Girls’ right to education

Preliminary Report by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Vernor Muñoz
Economic and Social Council

E/CN.4/2006/45
8 february 2006
4
45
Girls’
The righton
Wind to education
the Stone
Summary
The present report focuses on girls’ right to education. In view of the first assessment of the Millennium
Development Goals, the Special Rapporteur wished to focus on Goals 2 and 3, on universal primary
education and gender equality. The Special Rapporteur addresses the sociocultural context of gender
discrimination by defining the concept of patriarchalism, which underpins discriminatory behaviours.
He denounces the negative impact on education, and especially on girls’ education, of the persistent
consideration of education as being a servicerather than a human right and insists on the importance
of ensuring not only girls’ access toschool but also their completion of the education cycle. The report
identifies obstacles to education for girls, such as early marriages and pregnancies, child labour
(especially domestic work) and armed conflicts.
The Special Rapporteur draws attention to aggravating factors and highlights the key role of human
rights education and its concrete implementation at the classroom level to combat gender discrimination
and stereotypes. The report also summarizes replies received to the questionnaire sent to different
stakeholders to solicit information on the realization of the right to education for girls, extracting major
trends from the replies and validating his findings. The report provides a set of recommendations
based on the four elements identified as components of the right to education, namely, availability,
accessibility, acceptability and adaptability.
Introduction
1. In its resolution 1998/33, the Commission on Human Rights established the mandate of the Special
Rapporteur on the right to education. The Commission renewed the mandate for a period of three
years in its resolution 2004/25. The present report is submitted in accordance with paragraph 12 of
Commission resolution 2005/21, which requested the Special Rapporteur to report to it at its sixty-
second session.
2. The specific subject chosen by the Special Rapporteur for his second annual report is an account
of the status of girls’ enjoyment of one of their fundamental rights; for this, the Rapporteur must
sketch out how and how much women and men must change in order to help build a different world
in which the human rights of all persons are respected and promoted, without distinction according
to gender.
3. Girls’ right to education cannot be addressed in isolation from gender issues; and these issues
certainly not only affect women’s rights but also impose the need to envisage a new form of masculinity
that is more sensitive, responsible and proactive towards equality, justice and solidarity.
46
4. At the end of 2005, the Special Rapporteur deemed it appropriate to contribute to the discussion on
progress in girls’ enjoyment of the right to education, since that year was the deadline for attainment
of the first phase of Millennium Development Goal 3, which proposed to eliminate gender disparity
in primary education, and is an important milestone on the road towards the second goal (universal
primary education by the year 2015) and the goals of the World Education Forum held in Dakar.
5. This report must in no way be interpreted as systematic monitoring of progress on the fulfilment
of the Millennium Development Goals, since it deals with other topics that go beyond the vision and
premises of the Millennium Declaration.
6. The Millennium Development Goals must not be seen as diverting attention from the commitments
undertaken by States at international conferences held during the past decade: the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro 1992), the World Conference on Human
Rights (Vienna 1993), the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo 1994), the
World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen 1995), the Fourth World Conference on Women
(Beijing 1995), the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (Istanbul
1996), the World Food Summit (Rome 1996)1 and the World Education Forum (Dakar 2000), but rather
as strategies for strengthening the global human development agenda.
7. Over the past year the Special Rapporteur has had an extensive agenda of dialogue and collaboration
with Governments and civil society organizations, attended a host of workshops, seminars and
conferences and undertaken a mission to Botswana in October.
8. Given that the rights of young and teenage girls have been the subject of much research and a
substantial body of literature in recent years, the Special Rapporteur also deemed it appropriate to
address this subject and suggest that reflection should go hand in hand with practical moves to give
effect to young and teenage girls’ right to education.
9. This report comprises a sociocultural and economic analysis both of social exclusion and gender
discrimination and of the effects of patriarchal practices that hinder the development of education
policies capable of guaranteeing young and teenage girls’ right to education and encourage forms
of socialization that run counter to human dignity. It also analyses world trends in girls’ school
attendance or lack thereof and the urgent need to link the qualit y of education to the construction of
civic communities founded on human rights since school access alone does not guarantee realization
of rights or fulfilment of needs.
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I. Social and cultural context

of gender discrimination
A. Standardized education
10. The emergence of the earliest education systems, committed to training industrial and commercial
labour, gave rise to worldwide schooling models and concepts that focused on the eradication of
differences among students and the idea of creating standardized consumers and workers.
11. In the context of this educational trend, which began centuries ago, knowledge, skills and know-how
were conceived as instruments for the common training of children and young people, perpetuators
and reproducers of the Western-Christian-white-male stereotype.2
12. The social framework of patriarchal beliefs and behaviour encompassed in the concepts and
models of the old industrial societies has had a dramatic impact on modern schools, validating and
reproducing stereotypes, prejudices and inequalities generation after generation, sometimes even
against the will of decision-makers,3 subordinating myriad historical and cultural identities to a single
educational project4 that is therefore susceptible to institutionalized discrimination.
13. With the entry into force of international human rights law, education systems were called upon to
promote the construction of civic communities respectful of the dignity and rights of all individuals,
thereby provoking an essential crisis that compelled a redefinition of the very nature of national
education and showed up all the mechanisms of exclusion in access and curricular content.
14. Even so, the movement of education towards human rights is burgeoning and must face the harsh
reality of stubborn forces that continue to think of education as an instrument subordinated to the
market and, therefore, as a kind of service rather than a right, which answers to the interests of the
economy before those of individuals.
B. Patriarchal attitudes and inequalities

1. The concept of patriarchalism
15. The social framework of asymmetries and disparities we identify as patriarchalism predates the
education systems and continues to have a decisive influence on the factors that produce social
exclusion in schools.
48
16. The non-governmental organization People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE) has
made an important conceptual contribution to clarifying it. As it has stated, patriarchalism is a social
context that defines the relations between individuals as relations of inequality.5
17. As a basis for this asymmetry, the system imposes the supremacy of men over women, although
it also determines strict roles for men and even divides the sexes against themselves.
18. In addition to gender inequality, patriarchalism impedes social mobility and stratifies social
hierarchies, with a negative impact on the realization of human rights, development, peace and
security, since it controls economic resources and assigns social and cultural values that are
essentially unjust.
19. This social framework is an obstacle to egalitarian relations between men and women and to the
potential for development of the human personality in the area of education, in the terms set forth in
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and in article 13 of
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This social framework impresses
its hierarchized character on the entire spectrum of human relations, placing young and teenage girls
in a particularly disadvantaged situation, given their gender and age.6
20. It is clear that inequality is a cross-cutting variable that uniformly affects all the social strata in
which women and other groups that suffer discrimination are found;7 patriarchalism is not a structure
of autonomous oppression, focusing on women’s subordination to men, but an undifferentiated set of
oppressive factors deriving from sex, race, gender, ethnic origin and social background.8
2. Cultural changes
21. To break with this system of asymmetry calls for a complete overhaul of societies and cultures in
order to encourage men and women to live together on an equal footing.9 As is evident from article 5
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the elimination
of prejudices and customary and all other practices based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority
of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women poses the main challenge to the
identification of new educational and human development policies.
22. The purpose of girls’ education, then, is to facilitate those changes by building in all persons the
capacity to respect and exercise human rights; what is at stake is education for equality and, hence, a
more just, interdependent, equitable and peaceful society.10
23. But the question remains the same: are States prepared to take on this challenge?
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24. According to general comment No. 16 of by Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women, substantive equality will not be achieved simply through the enactment of laws or
the adoption of policies which fail to address or even perpetuate inequality between men and women
because they do not take account of the existing economic, social and cultural inequalities, particularly
those experienced by women.
25. For this reason, the Committee underscored the need for States to do away with discriminatory
attitudes and stereotypes, as well as customs and practices held over from traditions that have
consigned women to a position of inferiority.11
26. In identifying the impact of patriarchalism on its societies as a factor making for women’s continuous
marginalization reflected in, among other things, a lack of gender equality and awareness, the Council
of Europe has proposed a strategy for incorporating a gender perspective in schools, including legal
aspects, public policies, ministerial responsibilities, the functioning of educational centres, research
and the role of parents.12
27. As a notable effort in the direction indicated by the Committee, the Special Rapporteur wishes to
underline the fact that 15 African countries have ratified the Protocol on the rights of women in Africa
to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the provisions of which must be incorporated
into national legislation.
3. The issue of masculinity

28. The framework of inequality and structural discrimination that underlies the processes of
socialization and construction of gender stereotypes in many education systems13 also affects
children and adolescents, who are usually conditioned or induced to adopt intolerant or overtly violent
behaviour patterns.
29. It is therefore no mere analytical exercise to examine the construction of masculinity and the role
it plays in the development process; rather, it has useful and urgent implications for improving the
quality of life in all countries14 and should commit men to a path of change towards the establishment
of a culture of human rights in schools.
30. The myth that patriarchalism is inevitable has been definitively exploded by studies showing that
young people are more flexible than supposed in their expectations of gender roles,15 and can therefore
prove ready to fashion relationships of respect, equality and cooperation should alternatives models
of upbringing be available.
50
31. Teenage girls who have experienced violence of this kind are more likely to become pregnant, attempt
suicide or use drugs or alcohol and to suffer from eating disorders; in addition to which, it is generally only
a tiny percentage of victims of violence who report it to the authorities, the teachers or the courts.16
II. Girls’ education and the economy

32. The disjunction between intentions and actions in the field of education occurs amidst structural
disparities and imbalances and the prevalent fallacy that economic development is the main purpose
of education, which is usually viewed as an outlay, not as a human right.
33. Clearly, we all hope to gain economic benefits from education and literacy, but it is a different
matter entirely to think that these benefits are education’s central aim.17
34. For these reasons, many of the discussions about and demands for investment in education -
including non-governmental organizations’ well-meaning campaigns - reduce girls’ rights to vague
components of macroeconomic factors, such as the claim that one of the central targets of girls’
school attendance is to be able to increase per capita growth.18
35. Economic growth does not always lead to human development. Consequently, the Special
Rapporteur considers it inappropriate to propose the exercise of the right to education as a condition
of productive or commercial efficiency, since per capita income itself, especially in fringe economies,
is not obviously linked to social equity.
36. Moreover, the human right to education cannot be subordinated to or made contingent upon other
rights or situations. The Special Rapporteur considers it a nonsense to underscore the centrality of
education19 when it is assigned the impossible task of shoring up the economy.
37. This utilitarian view runs counter to the dignity of young and teenage girls and women and diverts
attention from the essential aims of education, which is why it has failed as a strategy for raising
awareness among Governments and financial institutions.
38. It is clearly true that education systems must change aims and strategies when these are not conducive
to human advancement,20 but it is also true that many of the major problems in education are to be found
not in the school system, but in an essentially discriminatory socio-economic environment.
39. Investment in girls’ education, especially if aimed at improving its quality and coverage, yield
a social benefit that manifests itself in lower mortality rates, fewer unwanted births, and efforts to
combat poverty, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition.
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40. These positive effects should boost the incorporation of human rights into the actions and policies
of States and the World Bank, instead of reducing girls’ and women’s priorities to a question of means
to an end.
41. It has also been affirmed that measuring progress towards realization of the Millennium Development
Goals depends largely on the use of statistical data,21 which makes for a veritable paradox, given the
lack or limited development of qualitative indicators capable of showing the nature and incidence of
the specific obstacles that produce and promote exclusion, discrimination and denial of young and
teenage girls’ rights.
42. The reluctance of many States to develop human rights indicators is inconsistent with a spirit of
social commitment and solidarity. The Special Rapporteur deplores instances where Governments
seek to avoid so much as mentioning the names of communities historically discriminated against on
their territories.
43. General quantitative indicators averaging rates of increase in school registration, such as usually
serve to measure “progress”, are not useful enough. They do not reflect the complexity of gender
disparities; rather, they obscure the needs of girls and women and contribute to practices harmful to
human rights by failing to pinpoint the causes of backwardness, violence against girls and unwillingness
to amend public policies that validate and perpetuate such practices.
III. The long road to gender equality

A. Universal primary education
and its impact on gender balance
44. According to the most conservative estimates, 55 million girls still do not attend school and at
least 23 countries risk failing to achieve universal primary education by the year 2015, as proposed in
the Millennium Development Goals.22
45. Despite substantial progress in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern and Western Asia, those are
precisely the regions where girls most lack educational opportunities: in Southern Asia 23.5 million
girls do not attend school, and in Central and West Africa virtually half of all girls are also excluded.23
46. To this depressing prospect must be added the 25 per cent of adults over 15 in Central America
who are illiterate, for the most part poor indigenous girls and women living in rural areas.24
52
47. According to even the most optimistic estimates, it will take at least 10 years longer than expected
to achieve the target of universal primary education, since in 2015 there will still be 47 million children
not attending school, and 47 countries will not attain the goal of universal school enrolment before
almost the middle of the next century. Currently, 75 per cent of children in these countries have
mothers who are also uneducated. 25
48. The lack of specific opportunities, school infrastructure, teaching materials, qualified teachers and
direct and supplementary services for exercising the right to education (such as food, health services
and safety on the way to and from school), and problems with the quality, relevance and adaptability
of curricula have an adverse effect on girls’ access to school and their retention in the system.
49. In its general recommendation No. 16, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women called for the adoption of legislation and policies to ensure the same admission criteria for
boys and girls at all levels of education and to ensure, through information and awareness-raising
campaigns, that families desist from giving preferential treatment to boys when sending their children
to school, and for curricula to promote equality and non-discrimination.
50. The financial obstacles to implementation of these measures in developing countries, such as
unjust and unpayable foreign debt, and the lack of public policies that focus on the needs of girls, add
to the reluctance to increase financial resources for education to a minimum of 6 per cent of gross
national product, as recommended in international standards.
51. The Special Rapporteur deplores the fact that in many cases defence budgets are increasing at the
expense of girls’ education and that, on average, African and Southern and Western Asian countries
allocate 3.5 per cent or less of gross national product to education.26
52. The failure to give substance to girls’ rights is due to decisions or omissions attributable exclusively
to adults; but as envisaged in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it will be impossible to find
ideal solutions to those problems unless girls are involved in matters concerning them.
53. Consequently, the quest for opportunities and alternatives for and with girls should facilitate a new
interpretation of the processes of democratization in all public spheres, in which minors are included
in decision-making and in the mechanisms for adult accountability.
B. From equal access to total equality

54. It is disturbing that no country has succeeded in closing the gender gap in all aspects of social life.
This means that gender inequality does not flow automatically from poverty, since it has been amply
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documented in North America and Europe, for instance, where persistent inequalities in access and
significant barriers facing women adversely affect girls’ education and chances in life.27
55. Rhetoric in favour of girls’ rights has not prevented education from continuing to be one of the
lowest budget priorities and one of the least favoured areas in public policy.28
56. Of the world school-age population, 56 per cent live in countries that have not achieved gender
parity in primary education; in the case of secondary education the figure is 87 per cent, so that the
disadvantages to which adolescent girls are subject continue to pile up.29
57. Even though gender inequality in education has special local and regional features, some
characteristics are common to many countries,30 such as poverty (which itself accounts for many
forms of exclusion), dangerous school environments and many patriarchal effects such as curricular
stereotyping, parental unwillingness to invest or take an interest in girls’ education, child labour,
discriminatory social and cultural practices, restrictions on girls’ freedom of movement and expression
and, of course, wars and emergencies.
58. As the year 2005 draws to close, we know for a fact that the goal of gender equality established
in the Millennium Development Goals has not been met in 94 of the 149 countries for which
information is available.
59. There are 86 countries unlikely to achieve gender parity even by the year 2015, while 76 countries have
not even achieved gender parity in primary education, and girls continue to suffer from the disparities.31
60. Had the goal been attained, there would now be 14 million more girls in primary school, but the
reality is that in 41 countries - together accounting for 20 million girls not attending school - the
gender gap is growing wider or is narrowing so slowly that parity will not be achieved before the year
2040,32 while 115 countries (of the 172 on which information is available) still report disparities in
secondary education.33
61. In any event, the concept of “parity”, implying as it does mere quantification of the girls registered
for school, does not reflect the substantive idea of “gender equality” as contemplated in the 1995 Beijing
Declaration and Platform of Action, so it is useless for evaluating improvements in the quality of education.
62. The global situation notwithstanding, some countries have made sterling efforts; one such is
Benin, which has increased the general enrolment rate of girls and boys aged 6-12 from 44 per cent
in 1996 to 55 per cent in 2001, reducing the gender gap from 21 per cent to 17 per cent. Rapid
progress has also been made in Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, India, Morocco,
Nepal and Yemen.34
54
63. The Special Rapporteur has consistently affirmed that school access alone does not offer any
guarantee, and that promoting high-quality education based on the study and daily practice of
human rights is essential to the mounting of an effective resistance to all forms of exclusion and
discrimination.35
64. The difficulties facing young and teenage girls are often aggravated by other types of exclusion
linked to disabilities, ethnic or geographical origin, sexual preferences, and religious beliefs or lack
thereof, among other things.
65. Such exclusion also occurs in developed countries, where it often escapes the attention of the
authorities because of the general tendency to overlook migrant populations, for example, and
persons with intellectual disabilities, who in Europe continue to meet with prejudice and barriers to
the realization of their rights,36 including that of education.
66. The discrimination girls encountered in the school environment is also due to a lack of educational
models that have a cultural focus and are respectful of diversity; to the long distances girls must travel
to get to school; to the lack of safe transport; to the sparse recruitment of women teachers; to the
limited attention paid to girls with special educational needs; to the absence of thorough, continual
gender awareness-raising and training for male and female teachers; to the scant interest taken in
attracting back and retaining pregnant teenagers and adolescent mothers; to the lack of sex education;
and to the costs of registration, uniforms, food, textbooks and teaching materials that families must
defray, which affect girls more unfavourably.37
C. Working girls
67. Domestic work by children, both paid and performed in conditions of virtual slavery, continues to
be a major cause of exploitation and violence and one of the factors that have perversely kept millions
of girls out of school.
68. Child labour has worse educational consequences for girls because they must confront other,
related forms of aggression and exclusion associated with their tasks and, even worse, do not even
receive any financial reward for domestic chores (usually reserved for girls) which may take up to
seven hours a day.38
69. Girls’ domestic obligations are rooted in customs and traditions that afford men preferential
treatment, provoke school dropout at earlier ages than boys and are normally reinforced by stereotypes
in textbooks and classroom activities.
55
70. There is not enough alternative institutional support for girls’ work to afford them access
to education and high-quality education. Moreover, governmental inaction in the face of child
labour is one way of legitimizing informal employment, allowing girl workers’ rights to be
overlooked entirely.
D. Marriage, pregnancy and motherhood

71. Patriarchal practices that limit female autonomy and keep young and teenage girls away from
education usually involve early or unwanted marriages, pregnancies and motherhood.
72. Teenage marriages are often based on a type of socialization that reinforces the idea held
by parents that the ultimate objective for girls is matrimony.39 This idea is not only propagated
in the school environment but also exacerbated by the psychological disempowerment
that girls suffer in their primary relations, feeding the belief that education is not an option for
married women.
73. The type of socialization that excludes married teenagers from educational opportunities is
accompanied in many countries by laws authorizing early marriage, thereby validating a structure
of subjection that hampers the right to education with the paradoxical association of standards that
guarantee free will.
74. In at least 44 States girls may contract marriage before boys, and in 25 of those countries (in all
regions except Central Asia), the minimum marriageable age for girls is 15 years or less.40
75. Recent studies41 show that in some countries more than 50 per cent of women marry before they
are 18 and are obliged to drop out of school.
76. Pregnancy and motherhood in teenage girls are also common motives for discrimination in
education; worse, when pregnancy is a disciplinary offence teenagers risk expulsion from school and
are forced to consider abortion if they wish to continue their studies.
77. For example, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reports cases in Africa
in which one in five pregnancies occurs among teenagers aged 13-19,42 and some trends in North
America and Europe show pregnancy rates in the region of 80 per thousand girls aged 15-19.43
78. When poverty combines with marriage and early motherhood, formal education becomes even
more distant for teenage girls, who have virtually no choices other than domestic work and raising
their children.
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79. Many countries have made considerable progress in legislation and constitutional case law
guaranteeing teenage mothers the right to formal education. Civil society has also carried out other
important experiments to enable more pregnant girls to join and remain in the education system: one
such is the “Girl Child Project” implemented by the Nurses Association of Botswana in collaboration with
the country’s governmental authorities; another is the initiative of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate
Women, which has achieved important results in school attendance by teenage mothers in Auckland.
E. Girls from communities

that experience discrimination
80. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has dwelt on the need for more
consistent methods of evaluating discrimination against women, and the disadvantages, obstacles
and difficulties they encounter in exercising and enjoying their rights to the full irrespective of race,
colour, descent or ethnic or national origin.44
81. Those strategies must include reducing dropout rates among girls and combating the harassment
of students from communities facing discrimination on account of their descent, since many
Governments pay little attention to the structural causes of dropping out or low enrolment in school
of girls from ethnic minorities.45
82. Communities historically discriminated against include the Dalits,46 who suffer many forms of
exclusion in several Asian and African countries.47
83. In one such country literacy levels are lowest among Dalit girls, at 24.4 per cent, compared to the
national average of 42.8 per cent for the female population. In the Mushahar Dalit community, barely
9 per cent of women are literate.48
84. High illiteracy rates combine with an enduring gender gap and with differences between urban and
rural areas, also to the detriment of young and teenage girls.49 In addition, teachers have been known
to declare that Dalit pupils “cannot learn unless they are beaten”.50
85. Other studies have documented absenteeism, irregular attendance and negligence by teachers,
who have in addition used Dalit and Adivasi children to do work for them, corporal punishment and
fear of teachers - one reason cited by parents for not sending their children to school.51
86. In Europe, Roma girls frequently live in poverty and encounter myriad forms of aggression and
exclusion;52 national and regional strategies are needed to give them the same opportunities to meet
their educational needs as the rest of the population.
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87. The Special Rapporteur deplores the fact that violations of the rights of indigenous girls, especially
racial violence, forced pregnancies, sexual assault and forced sterilization, are allowed to continue
without the States concerned tackling the situation head-on.
IV. Communication with governments

88. In the framework of the present report, the Special Rapporteur sent a questionnaire to solicit
information from States, civil society and other stakeholders on the right to education for girls. The
questionnaire uses the four elements identified as components of the right to education, namely,
availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability. These elements aim at guiding the Special
Rapporteur in highlighting six major points; the gender balance in school enrolment; reasons for
dropping out of school; gender balance in school graduation; gender sensitivity and human rights
elements in the school curricula; the school environment as a factor encouraging girls’ attendance;
and the sociocultural context of discrimination against young and teenage girls.
89. The Special Rapporteur would like to express his deep gratitude to all those who answered
the questionnaire. Communications were received from Argentina, Austria, Costa Rica, Denmark,
Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Mexico, Monaco, the Philippines,
Portugal, the Russian Federation, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Uruguay. Replies were also
received from the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNICEF (and UNICEF Senegal),
and the United Nations Development Programme. He regrets not being able to reproduce or even
appropriately summarize these extremely useful contributions. He can only comment on major
trends and validate his analysis of the situation of girls’ right to education. The Special Rapporteur
intends to reflect the replies in a consolidated report on his communications with Governments to
be submitted in 2007.
90. The overwhelming majority of the States that replied to the questionnaire reported on
constitutional and legal guarantees for education and/or gender equality, with the exception of
Denmark, whose Constitution does not specifically provide gender equality but which has a wide
range of legal guarantees such as the Equal Treatment Act and the Act on gender equality, and
Germany, whose Constitution does not explicitly mention the right to education. The spectrum
of guarantees for gender equality range from extremely precise provisions such as article 35 of
the Constitution of Ethiopia, which acknowledges the need for affirmative actions to remedy the
historical legacy of inequality and discrimination suffered by women to more general wording such
as that found in the Constitutions of Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Argentina, Costa Rica,
Estonia or Kazakhstan.
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91. Over the past decade, most countries increased primary-school enrolment, especially developing
countries. Many States guaranteed equal access to education and incorporated a universal right to
education in their constitution or legislation. A number of countries reported universal access to basic
education and recognized the importance of action to increase student enrolment, retention and
regular attendance, especially among girls. Several national policies guaranteed completion of basic
education for girls, especially those living in rural and deprived areas, as well as opportunities for
women and girls to continue their education. Ethiopia brought girls into school with a programme that
established schools closer to the community, provided flexible and relevant curricula and encouraged
female facilitators from the community to participate. South Africa identified infrastructure, special
protection measures, education, early childhood development, child and maternal health, nutrition,
leisure and recreation, as well as peace and non-violence as priority areas for action-oriented policies
to ensure the full realization of the right to education, with a special mention of girls.
92. While countries such as Kazakhstan, Japan, Estonia, Monaco, Denmark, Uruguay and Germany
did not identify culture or social norms and practice as adversely affecting girls’ education, other
States reported that persistent gender stereotypes and cultural bias continued to impact on girls’
access to school and the completion of their study. Portugal has established programmes to provide
training and occupational integration for women. Through its Girls’ Education Movement (GEM),
South Africa put in place a programme that promotes girls’ education from a gender perspective
and encourages girls to participate in their education and to access training and occupations usually
associated with boys.
93. Some countries reported action to remove discriminatory elements, including revision of
curricula and textbooks for the introduction of gender-sensitive approaches. In Japan, fighting
gender stereotypes in the society and education has been identified as one of the goals of the
Fundamental Plan on Joint Participation by Men and Women. In 2000, South Africa adopted the
National Curriculum Statements referring to the constitutional provisions on values, education
and democracy. Ethiopia trained and sensitized teachers and academics on gender equality and
materials which are gender-sensitive.
94. Early marriages and pregnancies, violence and sexual abuses, child labour, difficult access to
school premises, and domestic-related tasks were mentioned among the main barriers to girls’
education. Some countries allocated places in school for students of either sex who are, or are about
to be, parents or they developed handbooks on social interaction, including on issues such as keeping
pregnant teenagers in the education system. Mexico and Argentina have designed programmes
providing economic and school support for pregnant teenagers to enable them to cope with maternity
while continuing to study. Denmark and Portugal allow pregnant girls to leave school and resume their
education after they give birth, while Costa Rica ensures legal protection to pregnant teenagers and
adolescent mothers through the Inter-Institutional Council on Adolescent Mothers.
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95. In some instances, higher dropout rates were registered among boys rather than girls. The Philippines
reports a higher boys’ dropout rate, aggravated in rural and poor areas where parents would rather have
their children work to help the family economically. Some countries, such as Estonia, have commissioned
studies to get information on dropout rates and the reasons for such dropouts, with a gender focus. Rural
and urban disparities also tend to aggravate existing gender imbalance in the education system.
96. While Kazakhstan, Costa Rica, Finland, Denmark and other countries reported on the absence of
school fees, it is admitted that direct fees, as in the case of South Africa, or even indirect fees, such as
those related to membership in the school community, books, furniture, or uniforms, have a negative
impact on access to and retention in school. Countries such as Germany, Portugal and Kazakhstan, for
example, exempt parents in need from the purchase of educational materials and provide them with
financial assistance. Although many countries do not seem to have gender-disaggregated data, the
Philippines stopped the collection of school-related activities’ tuition fees to accommodate students,
especially girls, from low-income families. Ethiopia reported about the particularly negative impact
of indirect costs on girls’ school attendance, and in order to minimize the potential negative impact
the fees could have on boys and girls’ school attendance, South Africa has introduced a system of
exemption from paying direct school fees for parents in need.
97. States recognized the importance of education for gender equality and the empowerment of women
and have achieved progress in primary education access, but consistent efforts are needed to close
the gap between primary and secondary schools and between urban and rural areas.
V. Education policy and classroom reality

A. From individual challenges to collective
responsibilities
98. Problems relating to girls’ school attendance are not unrelated to educational content. On the
contrary, gender stereotyping, threats to girls’ emotional security and curricula that are insensitive to
gender issues directly conspire against the realization of the right to education.53
99. Nor is progress on gender equality separate from the quality of education, especially bearing in mind
that girls’ education is fundamentally associated with the promotion of social justice and democracy.54
100. The Special Rapporteur stresses that education should be promoted as a means of constructing
knowledge and the common good, in which the learning process acts as an element enabling all
persons to exercise their human rights.
60
101. The right to education represents a collective responsibility that implies respect for each
person’s special characteristics; it is a praxis of diversity, since the learning process presupposes
acknowledgment of and respect for the other, both male and female, and therefore of the possibility of
consensus, acceptance of dissent and respectful dialogue geared to peaceful coexistence.
102. Educational policies devised in accordance with human rights must promote curricular development
that calls for girls’ to participate and be permanently included, with syllabuses and curricula that
always accord them full respect and acknowledgement in classroom activity.
103. The Special Rapporteur has recommended ethnographic studies to provide information about
the impact of human rights instruments on actual classroom situations, thus showing up the
stereotypes that keep girls in a position of subordination and hinder their participation in the dynamics
of schooling.
104. The following are some of those problems and stereotypes:55
O
Both men and women teachers’ low expectations of intellectual skills, since it is thought that girls are
inherently less intelligent than boys.
O
Teachers give girls less feedback. It is claimed that girls have eight times less contact with teachers than boys.
O
Teachers frequently report that they enjoy teaching boys more than girls.
O
Girls have fewer expectations of themselves in and out of school; they think that their future consists
primarily of being wives and mothers.
O
Women teachers’ and girls’ low expectations are reinforced by textbooks, curricula and assessment
material, in which no female figures appear.56
O
Boys usually have sufficient space to practise certain sports; girls are not provided with similar space.
O
Prizes won by girls and girls’ achievements are not as widely reported or publicized as boys’.
O
There is a clear tendency to use sexist language.
O
Girls suffer sexual assault and harassment by male teachers and classmates.
O
The education authorities are often unaware of such assaults and may even be reluctant to intervene,
especially if they consider such conduct to be “natural”.
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105. The need to improve girls’ enjoyment of their rights in the school environment is producing
new teaching trends that suggest eradicating segregationist curricula, relying instead on a model in
which men’s and women’s experience is combined and equal treatment reaches beyond traditional
gender assumptions.57 The practical contribution teachers are expected to make to that cause is an
urgent matter.
106. The Special Rapporteur considers that experimental proposals to boost gender equality in
education must be promoted and fully debated in ministries of education so that the whole dynamics
of schooling can be improved.
B. Sex education
107. Never has high-quality education been so important for combating HIV/AIDS, and also for
guaranteeing children an education that will help change patriarchal attitudes and build sexuality
founded on love and responsibility, as stated by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its general
comment No. 3, paragraph 6.
108. HIV/AIDS has had such a devastating impact that in one country alone over 100 schools have had
to be closed in a decade because of deaths caused by the pandemic.58
109. Gender inequities are one factor putting girls at risk of contracting HIV owing to their subordinate
position59 which often leaves them vulnerable to rape.
110. Protecting girls from the sexuality-related causes of exclusion and gender violence in schools is
not only a vital requirement worldwide, it also implicates and engages the entire educational apparatus,
from textbook publication and the construction of sanitation facilities to the training, recruitment,
awareness-raising and further training of teachers.
111. A good example of this type of commitment may be found in Mongolia’s Reproductive Health
Project for Adolescents, also known as “P0 Zorgaa”, with which the Government explicitly decided to
support sex education, beginning in the third grade.
112. The National Network for the Promotion of Women in Peru has stressed the need to promote sex
education among girls reaching menarche and their families.60 Its studies confirm that, with the arrival
of menarche, the time has come for many a teenage girl to drop out of school, and it is often also a
sign for the parents that a girl is capable of having sexual relations and of conceiving, which means
her family will encourage her to drop out of school.
62
113. The Special Rapporteur must mention cases of discrimination and exclusion where girls have
been expelled from educational institutions for displaying any kind of affection for fellow students of
the same sex. There have even been reports of situations in which punishment has been meted out,
not for any explicit behaviour, but rather on the strength of prejudice or unfounded arguments on the
part of the school authorities.61
VI. Girls in armed conflicts

114. Estimates have it that at least half of the 110 million children receiving no education live in countries
where there is or has recently been armed conflict.62 In 8 of those countries net school enrolment is
below 50 per cent, and of the 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa where enrolment fell in the previous
decade, 6 were affected by wars.
115. Furthermore, of the 14 countries with low gender parity, 2 are still in the throes of armed conflict,
2 are in the process of recovery and at least 1 is involved in a regional conflict or rebellion.
116. Of the 3.6 million people killed in wars since 1990, almost half have been children.63
117. Besides these brutal facts, the Special Rapporteur must mention that armies, militia forces and
rebel factions in at least 60 countries persist in recruiting girls.64
118. These situations have been given too little attention to guarantee the right to education in settings
where all human rights are violated and opportunities for peaceful coexistence are extremely slender.
119. Scant success in achieving lasting peace has not prevented isolated emergency initiatives for
early educational recovery by some State, multilateral and non-governmental organizations. One such
case is the Gender Equity Support Programme (GESP) of the Sudan Basic Education Programme,
which, with only 7 per cent of female teachers, has concentrated on increasing training programmes
with a gender perspective and the participation of teenage secondary schoolgirls.
120. The Special Rapporteur would also like to draw attention to the work of the International Rescue
Committee, which has supported school hostels in Afghanistan for girls in particular and programmes
designed to offset the sexual exploitation of girls in schools operating in refugee camps.
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VII. Conclusion and recommendations

121. New responses must be found in twenty-first century education to the patriarchal attitudes that
have subordinated girls, women and groups discriminated against, so that human rights can point the
way to the fashioning of egalitarian civic communities.
122. The exclusion of girls which has hitherto obstructed gender parity and equality in education
reflects not only poverty and other structural factors, but also a shortage of political will on the part of
many States that view education as a non-essential service, not as a human right.
123. Many of the serious problems besetting education are not to be found in school systems but
in the discriminatory environment. This is one reason why certain educational reforms, expected to
settle social and economic problems which government authorities have not wanted to tackle, have
met with little success.
124. If a lack of political will, prejudice, social inequality and marginal regard for girls can be identified
as the basis of these problems, international financial institutions and States must begin to pursue
more decisive strategies, integrating human rights completely into public policies so that the priorities
of girls and women cease to be issues of means to an end and the construction of a fairer, more
egalitarian world can proceed.
125. The fact that no country has succeeded in eliminating the gender gap clearly reveals how far
educational commitment has fallen short. We live in a world where development has not brought
about progress on equality, and inclusion continues to be a privilege.
126. The reasons for dropout and low school enrolment among young girls and teenagers must once
more become a primordial concern of States, a concern taken up not only in educational policy but in
all social, cultural and family pursuits, since girls’ education is inseparably linked to the promotion of
social justice and democracy.
64
The Special Rapporteur recommends
to the States that they should:
Availability
128. Increase education budgets to at least 6 per cent of gross national product, in accordance with
international standards.
129. Guarantee a significant and growing budget to bolster programmes for the construction and
improvement of school infrastructure until all national needs are met. That infrastructure must be
sited within communities and include a drinking water supply and separate, private, safe sanitation
services for girls.
130. Increase economic aid to developing countries so that the Fast Track Initiative can be extended to
countries that are ready to speed up girls’ education, and finance the studies and strategies necessary
for others to be ready to do so.
131. Promote the recruitment of female teachers.
132. Establish efficient mechanisms for supplying sanitary towels to adolescent girls who so
wish, especially in rural areas, and ensure they can always have the use of the sanitation facilities
they need.
133. Design and implement effective programmes to guarantee successful schooling of pregnant
teenagers and adolescent mothers; consideration should also be given to the possibility of providing
food and childcare services during school hours.
134. Offer special incentives to universities and teacher-training institutions for improving gender
parity in teacher graduation and incorporating a gender perspective in syllabuses for trainee
teachers of both sexes, and develop gender-training programmes for serving teachers, female
and male.
Accessibility
135. Develop and apply qualitative and quantitative human rights indicators that make it possible to
identify and address the causes of exclusion, discrimination, segregation and any other type of limit
on girls’ enjoyment of their right to education.
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136. Establish educational policies and teaching practices that ensure inclusion of young and teenage
girls with disabilities and learning difficulties.
137. Offer preferential educational opportunities to girls who have been uprooted because of war or
other social conflict or emergencies.
138. Take the legal and administrative steps necessary to guarantee that admission and enrolment
criteria for girls are applied in the same way as for boys.
139. Conduct teaching exercises with children and adolescents to analyse gender stereotypes
in classroom activity and combat their prevalence in textbooks, teaching materials and all other
school activities.
140. Remove known barriers to the enrolment and retention in school of young and teenage girls
belonging to all ethnic groups, castes and communities that are discriminated against; address as a
priority the reasons why they drop out, and take action to ensure that they are not stigmatized in the
curriculum or in school activities.
141. Ensure all working girls, including those engaged in domestic work, have equal opportunities to
enjoy the right to education. To that end, alternative projects should be designed to provide solutions
to the family needs that are traditionally met by such girls.
Acceptability
142. Take the legal, technical and administrative action necessary to comply with the first phase of
the World Programme for Human Rights Education, and provide highquality education based on the
learning of human rights and their application to life in keeping with the principles of equality and non-
discrimination.
143. Form local and regional commissions to identify which aspects of customs, traditions and
any other sociocultural factors impede egalitarian treatment of girls in educational institutions, and
recommend measures to eradicate them forthwith.
144. Develop and execute, in formal and non-formal education, syllabuses on sexuality that promote
respect for girls’ and women’s rights and fashion a sensitive, responsible male sex.
145. Appoint specific committees of male and female experts to eliminate the stereotypes existing in
textbooks and recommend alternative texts.
66
146. Issue clear, strict directives that no practice that discriminates against girls in education systems
will be tolerated.
147. Conduct research to evaluate the level of implementation of human rights in specificclassroom
activities and, based on the results obtained, take appropriate corrective action.
Adaptability
148. Conduct specific experiments, projects and programmes to ensure that girls play an active part
in identifying their educational, social and cultural needs, so that they can propose solutions based on
their own knowledge and experience.
149. Establish educational policies and specific plans to developing intercultural education.
150. Guarantee sufficient physical space for girls’ play, sports and recreation, on an equal footing
with boys.
151. Promote programmes offering economic compensation for poor families so that their daughters,
like their sons, can be sent to school.
152. Design and publicize simple, appropriate, practical mechanisms enabling girls to report, in complete
security and confidentiality, any acts of violence towards them at or near educational institutions.
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Notes
1 See P. Antrobus, “Critiquing the Millennium Development Goals 13 G.Arenas, Triunfantes perdedoras, chap. V: “La cara oculta de la
from a Caribbean perspective”, article submitted to the Working escuela”, Studies and Essays, Publications Centre, University of
Group on the Millennium Development Goals at the UNDP Málaga, 1999.
Caribbean Regional Conference on the Millennium Development
Goals (Barbados, 7-9 July 2003). 14 A.Grieg, M. Kimmel and J. Lang, Men, masculinities:
Development: broadening our work towards gender equality.
2 See V. Muñoz, “Understanding human rights education as a UNDP, Gender in Development, Monograph series No. 10,
process toward securing quality education”, paper presented 2000, p. 2.
at the Regional seminar for South and South-East Asia on:
Combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related 15 Barker, cited in ibid., p. 8.
intolerance: role of education and awareness-raising” (Bangkok,
19-21 September 2005). 16 http://toolkit.endbase.org/Resources/YoungMen.
3 Millennium Project, Task Force on Education and Gender Equality, 17 V. Muñoz (note 2 supra). See also E/CN.4/2005/50, paras. 13-15.
Toward universal primary education: investments, incentives and
institutions, p. 24. 18 SeeP. Matz, Costs and benefits of education to replace child
labour. ILO, IPEC; and D. Abu-Ghaida and S. Klase, The Economic
4 See A. Bolívar, “Ciudadanía y escuela pública en el contexto and Human Development Costs of Missing the Millennium
de diversidad cultural”, Revista Mexicana de Investigación Development Goal on Gender Equity. World Bank, 2004, among
Educativa, vol. 9, No. 20 (January-March 2004). many others.
5 PDHRE, Transforming the patriarchal order into a human 19 UNESCO, “Girls’ Education Initiative” (UNGEI), Girls Too! ‘Scaling
rights system toward economic and social justice for all (www. up’ good practices in girls’ education. Paris, 2005, p. 67.
pdhre.org).
20 SeeUNESCO, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education on
6 M. Sagot, La invisibilidad de las niñas y las adolescentes: behalf of the Sub-regional Education for All (EFA) Forum for East
trabajo doméstico y discriminación de género. San José, ILO, and Southeast Asia and the United Nations Thematic Working
International Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour Group on Education for All. Guidelines for Preparing Gender
(IPEC), 2004, p. 11. Responsive EFA Plans.
7 J.Herrera Flores, De habitaciones propias y otros espacios 21 UNIFEM,Pathway to gender equality. CEDAW. Beijing and the
negados. Una teoría crítica de las opresiones patriarcales. MDGs, 2004.
University of Deusto, Publications Department, 2005, p. 18.
22 UNESCO, Global Monitoring Report on Education for All, 2006.
8 Ibid.
23 UNICEF, Progress for children, No. 2. New York, April 2005, p. 4.
9 M. Lagarde y de los Ríos, Los cautiverios de las mujeres:
madresposas, monjas, putas, presas y locas, Autonomous 24 UNDP,Second Human Development Report on Central America
University of Mexico, Col. Postgraduate, p. 345. and Panama, 2003, p. 31.
10 A. Facio Montejo, Equidad e Igualdad, San José, 2005. 25 UNDP, Human Development Report 2005. International
cooperation at a crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal
11 United Nations press release WOM/1519 (www.un.org/News/ world. 2005, pp. 7-49.
Press/docs/2005/wom1519.doc.htm).
26 Global
Campaign for Education, Girls can’t wait. Why girl’s education
12 Council of Europe, Directorate General of Human Rights, matters and how to make it happen now. Brussels, 2005.
Promoting Gender Mainstreaming in Schools, Final report of
the Group of specialists on gender mainstreaming in schools, 27 EuropeanWomen’s Lobby, Gender Equality Road Map for the
Strasbourg, 2004. European Community 2006-2010.
68
28 World Economic Forum, Women’s Empowerment: Measuring 46 R. Aruna, “Learn Thoroughly: Primary Schooling in Tamil Nadu”,
the Global Gender Gap, Geneva, 2005, p. 1. Economic and Political Weekly. May 1999, pp. 11-14.
29 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest, 47 Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a
Montreal, 2005. component of the right to an adequate standard of living. Mr.
Milhoon Kothari (E/CN.4/2005/48), para. 62.
30 Oxfam Great Britain, Beyond Access: Transforming Policy and
Practice for Gender Equality in Education, 2005, p. 37. 48 See “Dalit Women of Nepal. Issues and Challenges”, article
submitted by D. Sob (Feminist Dalit Organization, Nepal), at
31 See note 22 supra. the International Consultation on Caste-Based Discrimination
(Kathmandu, December 2004), and The Mission Piece of the
32 See note 25 supra. Puzzle; Caste Discrimination and the Conflict in Nepal, Center
for Human Rights and Global Justice. Faculty of Law, New York
33 A global table on gender parity in secondary attendance can be University, 2005.
found in the same UNICEF document (note 23 supra), p. 9.
49 Indian Institute for Dalit Studies (cited by the secretariat of the
34 UNESCO (note 22 supra), p. 11. International Dalit Solidarity Network, 2005).
35 V. Muñoz, (note 17 supra), paras. 8 and 9. 50 B.K. Anitha, Village, Caste and Education (Jaipur, Rawat, 2000).
36 http://www.eunap.org/topics/inteldis/reports/index. 51 M. Jabbi and C. Rajyalakshmi, “Education of Marginalized Social

Groups in Bihar” in A. Vaidynathan and P.R. Gopinathan Nair
37 R. Bentaouet Kattan, N. Burnett, User fees in primary education. (editors), Elementary Education in Rural India: A Grassroots View.
World Bank, Washington DC, 2004, p. 12. New Delhi, Sage, 2001.
38 Population Council, Gender differences in time use among 52 Economic Commission for Europe, Report of the NGO Forum for
adolescents in developing countries: Implications of rising the UNECE Regional Preparatory Meeting (Geneva, 12 and 13
school enrolment rates. No. 193, 2004, pp. 4-9. December 2004), p. 12; D.A. Spritzer, “Often shunted into special
schools. Gypsies fight back” (New York Times, 27 April 2005)
39 World Vision, The Girl-Child and Government service provision www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/education/27gypsy.html.
(2004), p. 7.
53 Plan of action for the first phase of the World Programme for
40 A. Melchiore, At what age … are schoolchildren employed, married Human Rights Education, para. 13.
and taken to court? (Second edition, Right to Education, 2004).
54 M. Arnot, “Gender equality and opportunities in the classroom:
41 http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/gender/links/1105 thinking about citizenship, pedagogy and the rights of children”,
yemen.htm. article submitted in Beyond Access Project: Pedagogic strategies
for gender equality and quality basic education in schools. Nairobi,
42 Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Namibia, 2 and 3 February 2004, p. 1.
“Growing controversy over teen pregnancy”. 20 October 2005.
55 S. Aikman, E. Unterhalter and C. Challender, “The education MDGs:
43 S.J. Ventura et al. “Trends in pregnancy rates for the United States, 1976- achieving gender equality through curriculum and pedagogy
97: an update”, National Vital Statistics Report. 2001, 49 (4), pp. 1-10 change”. Beyond Access Project (http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/
(http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet.fsest.htm). ioe/cms), pp. 10 and 11.
44 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general 56 www.hrea.org/moroccan-textbooks-Dec-2005.html.

recommendation No. XXV: Gender-related dimensions of racial
discrimination, of 20 March 2000, and general recommendation 57 Subirats, García Colmenares and Gamma, quoted in UNICEF:
No. XXIX on discrimination based on descent (art. 1, para. 1). Prácticas sexistas en el aula, (2004), p. 15; M. Subirats quoted
by L. Zayas in Las maestras parvularias: rehenes de un sistema
45 Center for Global Development, Missing the mark: girls’ escolar sexista. Latin American Programme of Training and
education and the way forward, Washington DC, 2005. Research on Women, Asunción, 1993, p. 10.
69
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58 UNICEF, Girls, HIV/AIDS and Education (2004), p. 2. Sampedrana Gay Community for Integral Health. Report of the
Special Rapporteur on the right to education, May 2005; European
59 Ayuda en Acción, Situación y visión de la niña en el área rural. Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (http://
San Salvador, April 2005, p. 5. www.steff.suite.dk/report.htm).
60 R. Straatman et al., Menarquía y sus implicaciones en la 62 J.

Kirk, Report on the Rights of Girls to Education to the Special
educación de las niñas rurales de Ayacucho, 2002. Rapporteur on the right to education, 2005.
61 Movimiento de integración y liberación homosexual de Chile 63 UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2005, 2004, p. 10.
(Movement for homosexual integration and liberation in Chile)
(MOVILH), Informe sobre derechos de jóvenes homosexuales 64 Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, quoted by Save the Children
en sistema educacional chileno (Report on rights of young in Fighting back. Child and community-led strategies to avoid children’s
homosexuals in the Chilean education system), 1 March 2005; recruitment into armed forces in West Africa. London, 2005, p. 10.
70
Declaration
Preventing through Education

Declaration of the 1st Meeting of Health and Education Ministers
to Stop HIV and STIs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
1o august 2008, México City
7
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1. Preamble
Gathered in Mexico City, in the context of the 17th International AIDS Conference, with an aim to
strengthen responses to the HIV epidemic in formal and informal educational contexts, the Ministers
of Health and Education of Latin America and the Caribbean.
1.1. Affirm our commitment to the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health,
to education, to non-discrimination, and to the welfare of current and future generations.
1.2. Reiterate our conviction that the health and education sectors are synergetic for preventing HIV
and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) acting jointly. Health and education are mutually
reinforcing, allowing the holistic development of individuals.
1.3. Acknowledge State responsibility for promoting human development, including health and
education, as well as for implementing effective strategies to educate and avoid infections among the
new generations and to combat all forms of discrimination.
1.4. Ratify our commitment to guarantee the full respect for the right to health and other related
rights, consecrated in international human rights treaties and standards, and particularly to guarantee
access to quality education for the entire population of girls, boys, adolescents and young people in
our countries, in environments that are free from violence, stigma and discrimination. This requires
an increase and strengthening of efforts to ensure that those directly affected by HIV enter school and
remain in it.
1.5. Renew the commitments previously agreed to by our governments with regard to Human Rights,
HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, child, adolescent and youth welfare.
1.6. Acknowledge the decisive role of families in the welfare and development of the current and future
generations, as well as the need to ensure that actions aimed at preventing HIV/STIs include all social
actors involved.
1.7 Acknowledge the existence of experts’ consensus documents, developed and published in the
framework of the United Nations system that reflect, to a great extent, scientific evidence available on
the topic.
72
2. Considering that
2.1 HIV is an epidemic demanding a coordinated and organized multisectoral response to confront it
in an immediate and sustained way.
2.2. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the main means of HIV transmission are unprotected sexual
relationships, so the diverse expressions of sexuality that can be found among the population as well
as the contexts of vulnerability in which sexuality is practised must be taken into account.
2.3 Sexuality is an intrinsic dimension of human beings that is expressed throughout their lives.
Childhood and adolescence are significant stages in which there is a high potential for individual
and national development, so there is a need to provide quality education that incorporates sexuality
education as a human right and a strategy for present and future quality of life.
2.4 Unequal relationships between genders and across ages, socio-economic and cultural differences,
individual sexual orientations and identities, when linked to risk factors, are conducive to situations
increasing vulnerability to HIV infections and STIs.
2.5 A considerable percentage of young people start their sexual lives at an early age and in most of
those sexual encounters no protection to prevent sexually transmitted infections is used.
2.6 Holistic sexuality education from childhood encourages gradual acquisition of the information and
knowledge needed to develop adequate skills and attitudes to live a full and healthy life, as well as to
reduce sexual and reproductive health risks.
2.7 Scientific evidence has proved that holistic sexuality education, including HIV/STIs prevention
measures – like the adequate and consistent use of male and female condoms, access to testing
and comprehensive treatment for STIs, and a reduction in the number of sexual partners – does not
accelerate the onset of sexual activity or the frequency of sexual relationships.
2.8 Scientific evidence proves that holistic sexuality education including information on different
prevention methods and encouraging self-care among those who have not yet become sexually
active, promotes individual autonomy and the ability of young people to decide when to start their
sexual lives.
2.9 A long-term effective response to the epidemic will only be possible if prevention strategies are
successful. The only way to sustain the global commitment to universal access to antiretroviral
treatment for people living with HIV is through strengthening prevention strategies that allow for
reducing the scope of the epidemic and the future demand for new treatments.
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3. Based on the above, the Health and

Education Ministers from Latin America
and the Caribbean, agreed to:
3.1 Implement and/or strengthen cross-sectoral strategies for holistic sexuality education and sexual
health promotion, including HIV and STIs prevention, that complement the efforts undertaken by each
sector to fulfil its responsibilities and mandates. For those efforts to be maintainable and sustainable,
cooperation between both sectors will be strengthened through formal mechanisms for planning,
monitoring, evaluation and follow-up of joint actions, as well as through involving other sectors.
3.2 Holistic sexuality education will have a broad perspective based on human rights and respect for
the values of a plural and democratic society in which families and communities can fully develop
themselves. Such education will include ethical, biological, emotional, social, cultural and gender
aspects, as well as issues referring to the diversity of sexual orientations and identities, according
to the legal framework of each country, to generate respect for differences, rejection of all forms of
discrimination and promotion of responsible and informed decision-making among young people with
regard to the onset of their sexual activities.
3.3 To evaluate existing educational programmes in our countries during 2009 and 2010, to identify the
degree to which holistic sexuality education has been integrated and implemented in school curricula
at all educational levels and modalities that lie under the competence of the Education Ministries.
3.4 To update, before the end of 2010, the curricular content and methodologies that lie under the
competence of the Education Ministries to include holistic sexuality education issues, in cooperation
with the Health Ministries. This updating will be guided by the best available scientific evidence
endorsed by International Bodies that are competent on the matter and in consultation with recognized
experts. Moreover, civil society and communities, including girls and boys, adolescents, young people,
teachers and families, will be taken into account.
3.5 To review, update and strengthen training for teachers both during their formative years and when they
are already at work. By 2015, all teachers training and updating programmes under the jurisdiction of the
Ministries of Education will have incorporated the content of the new holistic sexuality education curricula.
3.6 To encourage broad participation by the community and families, including adolescents and young
people, in defining health promotion programmes, to recognize their needs and aspirations in terms
of sexual and reproductive health as well as HIV prevention, and to encourage their involvement in the
development and implementation of adequate responses.
74
3.7 To ensure that health services for young people are user-friendly and delivered with full respect to human
dignity and that, in consistency with national legal frameworks, serve the specific sexual and reproductive
health needs and demands of adolescents and young persons, taking into account the diversity of sexual
orientations and identities. To also establish adequate referral mechanisms in the health sector.
3.8 To ensure that health services provide effective access to counselling and tests for STIs and HIV;
comprehensive care for STIs; condoms and training on their proper and consistent use; orientation on
reproductive decisions, including for people living with HIV; as well as treatment for all persons using
drugs and alcohol in problematic ways, particularly adolescents and young persons.
3.9 To promote work with the media and civil society to improve the quality of information and the
messages circulated, to make them consistent with the holistic sexuality education and sexual health
promotion content.
3.10 To work together with the relevant instances in the Executive and Legislative powers, in those
countries where appropriate, to guarantee an adequate legal framework as well as the needed budget
to implement holistic sexuality education and sexual health promotion.
3.11 To guarantee the existence of formal referral mechanisms to report discriminatory acts committed
by public and private educational and health services, and to work in a proactive way to identify and
correct them, both in government and community spaces, including Ombudsman offices, civil society
organizations and similar bodies in this work.
3.12 To assign and/or mobilize resources in each of our countries for rigorous impact evaluation of five
or more holistic sexuality education, sexual health promotion and HIV/STIs strategies implemented
with adolescents and young people by the year 2015.
3.13 To recommend the inclusion of these agreements in the 18th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of
State and Government in San Salvador, El Salvador, in October 2008; the 5th Summit of the Americas
in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2009; the 6th CONCASIDA (Central American Congress
on STI/HIV/AIDS) in San Jose, Costa Rica, in October 2009; and the Latin American and Caribbean
Forum in Lima, Peru, in May 2009, for their discussion and advancement.
3.14 To acknowledge the need for technical and financial support from multilateral cooperation and
international funding agencies in order to fulfil the commitments agreed to in this declaration.
3.15 To ensure the fulfilment of these agreements, we will establish a Cross-sectoral Working Group
to follow-up on the agreed commitments of this Declaration and we request UNAIDS and its co-
sponsoring agencies to become part of this group.
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4. In order to fulfil these commitments, we agree

to reach the following goals:
4.1 By 2015, the gap in the number of schools under the jurisdiction of the Ministries of Education that
have not yet institutionalized holistic sexuality education will have been reduced by 75%.
4.2 By 2015, the gap in the number of adolescents and young people who currently are not covered
by health services that adequately serve their needs in sexual and reproductive health will be reduced
by 50%.
With the conviction that these actions reflect the commitment of our countries to girls and boys,
adolescents and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean, with our fellow nations and with
the global community, to make our contribution to the global strategy to confront the HIV epidemic,
we approve this declaration committing ourselves to the agreements it includes, on the first day of
August, 2008, in Mexico City.
Signed by
MINISTRIES OF HEALTH: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam
and Uruguay.
MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay,
Saint Lucia, Surinam and Uruguay.
76
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Biografía
Vernor Muñoz
Costa Rican writer and activist for human rights, Dr. Vernor Muñoz Villalobos was appointed in 2004
as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education and held that post until last July 31, 2010.
He has been General Counsel of Human Rights in Costa Rica and Director of the Department of
Education in Human Rights Ombudsman of Costa Rica.
He is currently professor and researcher at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the National
University of Costa Rica and member of the Deliberative Council of the Regional Fund for Civil Society
in Education.
Consultant non-governmental organizations worldwide and several international organizations such

as the Inter-American Human Rights Institute, the American Institute for Crime Prevention, UNICEF,
UNESCO and Plan International.
Muñoz Villalobos has been Professor of Human Rights, Philosophy of Law, History of law and Civil
Law, in public and private universities in his country, and visiting professor at universities in Argentina,
Germany, Spain, Nicaragua, Colombia and Switzerland.
Author of several books and many articles. Their reports, essays and articles have been translated into
English, French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, German and Croatian.
He studied upper level in literature, is human rights lawyer, philosopher and doctor of education and
has received a national award of short story in his country.
79
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The Wind on the Stone

The Wind on the Stone

Sex education, Human Right.

c 2010, Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa

PO 11-0470, Lima – Perú

Cover design and layout:

1. Sexuality education. I Hernández, Moriana. II Title.

First edition: Montevideo, Uruguay, November 2010.

This publication was made possible thanks to support from

The Wind on the Stone

Girls’ right to education 44

Preventing through Education 71

“Nothing in life must be feared, only understood.

As Susana Chiarotti has said.

As soon as we learned of the Special Rapporteur’s intentions to produce a report on sexuality

To reject holistic sexuality education is to advocate for it to be provided in the underground of

September 28, 2010

Moriana Hernandez Valentini

Estaba el viento sentado en una piedra

* The wind was sitting on a stone tired of being invisible.

Patriarchalism and control

The notion of a human right to sexuality

The path to wholeness

The Right to Holistic Sexuality Education

The Human Right to Holistic Sexuality

Relevant Initiatives for the Human

to sexuality education as a source of personal, affective development and communicative expression,

The Situation of the Right to Holistic

In the case of Europe, sexuality education is compulsory in 19 of their 27 Member States.

In Europe, Sexuality Education is provided in a cross-cutting way. For instance in Portugal it is

Sexuality Education as a Response

Families and communities

On the basis of these conclusions, I would like

3 Cairo Conference on Population and Development, Program of 15 Available at http://www.yogyakartaprinciples.org

33 ESCR COMMITTEE, Concluding Observations on Moldova, 49 http://www.censida.salud.gob.mx/descargas/pdfs/declaracion.pdf.

54 Ibídem. 68 NAMIBIA HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTRY, “UNGASS

57 Ibídem. 71 AIDSEpidemic Update 2009. Available at http://www.unaids.org/

Girls’ right to education

Economic and Social Council

I. Social and cultural context

B. Patriarchal attitudes and inequalities

24. According to general comment No. 16 of by Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

3. The issue of masculinity

II. Girls’ education and the economy

III. The long road to gender equality

B. From equal access to total equality

D. Marriage, pregnancy and motherhood

E. Girls from communities

IV. Communication with governments

V. Education policy and classroom reality

104. The following are some of those problems and stereotypes:55

VI. Girls in armed conﬂicts

VII. Conclusion and recommendations

131. Promote the recruitment of female teachers.

36 http://www.eunap.org/topics/inteldis/reports/index. 51 M. Jabbi and C. Rajyalakshmi, “Education of Marginalized Social

44 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general 56 www.hrea.org/moroccan-textbooks-Dec-2005.html.

60 R. Straatman et al., Menarquía y sus implicaciones en la 62 J.

Preventing through Education

1o august 2008, México City

3. Based on the above, the Health and

4. In order to fulﬁl these commitments, we agree

MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivarian Republic of