Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed
Statement by Ambassador Michèle Taylor, United States of America
Human Rights Council – 53rd Session
Thank you, Madam Vice President.
Special Rapporteur Shaheed, thank you for providing your first report to this Council.
We have seen remarkable strides during the 25 years of important work by this mandate to promote inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all in the United States and abroad. However, we see the right to education being undermined even today.
The most egregious backsliding continues in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s prohibition on women and girls obtaining an education above the sixth grade will have irreversible effects for generations. In no other country in the world are women and girls barred from completing their education.
We also commend the Special Rapporteur for bringing attention to China’s government-run boarding school program that forcibly separated approximately one million Tibetan children from their families, including those as young as four years old, which raises serious human rights concerns.
Every child deserves a quality education, regardless of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics.
We are doing our part to advance equity in education in the United States, including by investing in historically black colleges and universities, supporting educational institutions in pursuing diverse student bodies, and improving educational outcomes for students of all ages, including students of color.
It is the responsibility of every country to support all of their population in accessing a quality education.
Madam Special Rapporteur, can you please tell us more about your forthcoming goals for your mandate?
I thank you.
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