The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) is a complex and far-reaching undertaking. The environmental, social, and economic implications are enormous and touch many aspects of life of the world’s population. The overall goal of the DESD is to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This educational effort will encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations.
As the United Nations lead agency in education, UNESCO must play a key role in setting quality standards in education for sustainable development. It needs to reorient its own programmes to include the changes required to promote sustainable development. Improving the quality of education and reorienting its goals to recognize the importance of sustainable development must be one of UNESCO’s and the world’s highest priorities.
Education for Sustainable Development provides a wide range of topics to work on: biodiversity, climate change, disaster prevention education, citizenship education, world heritage education, sustainable lifestyles, Earth Charter, urban issues, child participation, etc.
In addition, there are many links between children's rights and sustainable development. The following shows a list of the relevant articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
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Article 2 - Non-discrimination: All rights apply to all children without exception. It is the State's obligation to protect children from any form of discrimination and to take positive action to promote their rights.
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Article 6 - Survival and development: Every child has the inherent right to life, and the State has an obligation to ensure the child's survival and development.
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Article 12 - The child’s opinion and participation: The child has the right to express his or her opinion freely and to have that opinion taken into account in any matter or procedure affecting the child.
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Article 13 – Freedom of expression: The child has the right to express his or her views, obtain information , make ideas or information known, regardless of frontiers.
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Article 15 – Freedom of association: Children have a right to meet with others, and to join or form associations.
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Article 17 – Access to information: The State shall ensure that information and materials from a diversity of sources is accessible to children, and it shall encourage the mass media to disseminate information which is of social and cultural benefit to the child, and take steps to protect him of her from harmful materials.
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Article 24 - Health and health services: The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education and the reduction of infant mortality. They shall encourage international co-operation in this regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health services.
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Article 26 - Social security and social assistance: The child has the right to benefit from social security including social insurance.
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Article 27 - Standard of living: Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Parents have the primary responsibility to ensure that this responsibility can be fulfilled, and is. State responsibility can include material assistance to parents and their children.
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Article 28 - Education: The child has a right to education, and the State's duty is to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory, to encourage different forms of secondary education accessible to every child and to make higher education available to all on the basis of capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child's rights and dignity. The State shall engage in international co-operation to implement this right.
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Article 29 - Aims of education: Education shall aim at developing the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to the fullest extent. Education shall prepare the child for an active adult life in a free society and foster respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, and for the cultural background and values of others.
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Article 30 - Children of minorities or indigenous populations: Children of minority communities and indigenous populations have the right to enjoy their own culture and to practise their own religion and language.
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Article 31 - Leisure, recreation and cultural activities: The child has the right to leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities.
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Article 32 – Child labour: The child has the right to be protected from work that threatens his or her health, education or development. The State shall set minimum ages for employment and regulate working conditions.
Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/UNESCO_crcesd.doc
