Human Rights Watch has submitted recommendations to the Special Rapporteur for the upcoming thematic report on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in relation to the right to education, drawing on its global research on human rights and education. The submission emphasizes three critical concerns: the lack of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), barriers to education for refugee children, and the use of education for political indoctrination or assimilation. International human rights law guarantees all children access to information about sexual and reproductive health, which includes the state’s responsibility to provide age-appropriate, scientifically accurate, and rights-based education. The Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have affirmed that comprehensive sexuality education is an essential component of the right to education.
Human Rights Watch highlights the human rights harms caused by inadequate CSE. In countries such as Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Dominican Republic, high rates of adolescent pregnancy and inadequate education contribute to early motherhood, school dropout, and ongoing discrimination. In Ecuador, Senegal, and South Korea, students face sexual and gender-based violence in schools, with insufficient CSE to address consent, healthy relationships, and gender equality. LGBT students in countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Japan experience stigma, bullying, and exclusion due to curricula that fail to include sexual and gender diversity. In some cases, teaching practices reinforce harmful stereotypes, leading students to avoid school altogether.
The submission also documents a global anti-rights backlash against CSE, led by religious and political groups opposing so-called “gender ideology.” In Romania, the Orthodox Church and other actors successfully lobbied to make sexual education optional, reduce age coverage, and limit instruction on gender equality. In Ecuador, the Ministry of Education faced political pressure to remove age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health resources from its online platform, while in the United States and Brazil, teachers providing CSE have faced harassment, censorship, and threats, particularly regarding content on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Human Rights Watch emphasizes the need to guarantee education for refugee children without discrimination. In Bangladesh, Rohingya children face restricted access to accredited education, limited to informal community-run learning centers. Funding cuts and legal restrictions prevent most children from attending secondary school or accessing higher education, contributing to high dropout rates and limiting opportunities for long-term development.
The submission further examines the use of education for political indoctrination. In Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, curricula promote pro-Russian narratives, military training, and restrictions on Ukrainian language instruction, violating children’s rights and international humanitarian law. In China and Hong Kong, education has been politicized to enforce ideological conformity, with curricula promoting patriotism, Xi Jinping Thought, and restricting critical thinking. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, Chinese policies have reduced access to education in the Tibetan language, with private Tibetan-medium schools forcibly closed, undermining cultural and linguistic rights.
Human Rights Watch recommends that states implement mandatory, age-appropriate, scientifically accurate comprehensive sexuality education, remove barriers to education for refugee and marginalized children, and prevent political indoctrination in schools. Governments should respect children’s mother-tongue education and cultural identity, protect educators and students from harassment, and ensure accountability for violations. The organization also calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate restrictions on mother-tongue education and monitor violations that undermine children’s rights.
