The International Human Rights Framework

The global movement toward inclusive education is anchored in a series of landmark international instruments. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) established the foundational principle of non-discrimination in education. The UNESCO Salamanca Statement (1994) called on all governments to adopt inclusive education as a matter of law and policy. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006), ratified by Ireland in 2018, places binding obligations on states to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels, as articulated in Article 24.