On 5 December, the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the UN in Geneva co-organized, together with the missions of Luxembourg and Armenia, an event at the Palais des Nations on the theme "Strengthening the right to free education: from pre-school to secondary education". Ambassador Yuri Sterk, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria in Geneva, participated in the event as a panelist.

The event was aimed at presenting and explaining the objectives of the initiative to develop a new additional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which would extend the right to universal free education to pre-school and secondary education. Bulgaria is one of the co-sponsors of the initiative.

In his speech, Ambassador Sterk highlighted the role that the strive for education and the Bulgarian school have played in the history of our country and shared the Bulgarian experience with the introduction of universal compulsory and free pre-school and secondary education.

The leading participation in the initiative for a new protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its accompanying events is in line with Bulgaria's priorities as a newly elected member of the UN Human Rights Council for the period 2024-2026. It is also part of the country's policy to actively contribute to the efforts of the international community to strengthen the global system for the protection of the rights of the child and to create favourable conditions for the real enjoyment of the rights of every child in the world, in particular the right to education.