Education for Democracy

A/RES/79/267No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 13Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, published in 2025.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 2013–2025

2025A/RES/79/267Education for democracyLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/268Education for democracyCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/75/199Education for democracyCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/73/134Education for democracyCompare with previous version
2016A/RES/71/8Education for democracyCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

2 topics

Democracy Education

What does this mandate say?

16 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the first stand-alone report entitled “Education for democracy”, submitted by the Secretary-General in cooperation with the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization;

Reaffirms the fundamental link between democratic governance, peace, development and the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, which are interdependent and mutually reinforcing;

Recalls the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in which Member States committed themselves to the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, including to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non‑violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development, and further recalls the importance of measuring progress towards the achievement of the Goals;

Encourages the Secretary-General, United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen their efforts to promote the values of peace, human rights, democracy, respect for religious and cultural diversity, and justice and the rule of law through education;

Strongly encourages Member States and national, regional and local education authorities, as appropriate, to integrate education for democracy, along with civic education, human rights education, education for peace and education for sustainable development into their education standards and to develop and strengthen programmes, curricula and curricular and extracurricular educational activities aimed at the promotion and consolidation of democratic values and democratic governance and human rights, taking into account innovative approaches and best practices in the field, in order to facilitate the empowerment of citizens and their participation in political life and policymaking at all levels;

Encourages Member States and national, regional and local education authorities, as appropriate, to further efforts to strengthen, through education, the connections between democratic governance, peace, sustainable development and the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Encourages Member States to intensify their efforts towards educating and empowering young people, in particular to shape, in the aftermath of COVID‑19, societies that are anchored in respect for human rights and the rule of law;

Calls upon Member States to continue to increase investment in accessible, safe, inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, allowing for the intergenerational acquisition and transfer of knowledge and skills to advance the prospects of future generations and foster the building of peaceful, just, democratic and sustainable societies;

Also calls upon Member States to work with relevant stakeholders to take steps to close the digital divides between and within countries, including the rural-urban, youth-older persons and gender digital divides, and strengthen and adopt measures and mechanisms to ethically and responsibly harness the potential of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to advance education for democracy while promoting digital inclusion by addressing the challenges associated with access, affordability, digital literacy and digital skills, ensuring that the benefits of new technologies are available to all, including those living in rural and remote areas, taking into account the needs of those who are in vulnerable situations and the importance of promoting inclusive learning environments, and providing distance learning opportunities, especially in developing countries;

Encourages Member States to further their efforts to develop and strengthen educational policies and initiatives that contribute to combating disinformation, misinformation, stigmatization, racism, xenophobia, hate speech, discrimination, exclusion, and violence, in particular through accessible media and information literacy and digital literacy to improve education for democracy in the emerging digital environment;

Recalls the Transforming Education Summit, convened by the Secretary-General from 16 to 19 September 2022 in New York, as well as its pre‑Summit, hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from 28 to 30 June 2022 in Paris;

Also recalls Member States’ engagement throughout the Transforming Education Summit process, including through national consultations, and invites the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and relevant stakeholders, including the Sustainable Development Goal 4-Education 2030 High-level Steering Committee, to support Member States, upon their request, in the country-level implementation of their national commitments made during the Transforming Education Summit process;

Invites United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, including the United Nations Democracy Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Youth Office and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to provide appropriate expertise and resources for the development of relevant educational programmes and materials for democracy;

Encourages international, regional and other intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, to share their best practices and experiences in the field of education for democracy, including but not limited to civic education, with each other and with the United Nations system, as appropriate;

Decides to continue its consideration of the issue of education for democracy at its eighty-first session, under the agenda item entitled “Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields”;

Invites Governments, the agencies and organizations of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non‑governmental organizations to intensify their efforts to promote education for democracy, requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to submit a report, within existing reporting obligations, to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session on the implementation of the present resolution, and invites the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, within her existing mandate, to contribute to the report of the Secretary-General.

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