E/CN.4/2005/88 page 7 projects. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Spain for this important initiative, which he believes enhances the opportunities for cooperation between Governments and his mandate from the Commission. 12. In preparing this report, which focuses on the right to education, the Special Rapporteur received support from Governments, United Nations bodies and programmes and many indigenous and human rights organizations, scholars and researchers and professionals in the field of education who provided valuable information on the education of indigenous peoples. He would like to thank in particular the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNESCO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for their assistance. 13. To support the work of the Special Rapporteur in this area, and pursuant to Commission resolution 2004/62, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO organized an expert seminar on this topic, the outcome of which was extremely useful in preparing this report. The conclusions and recommendations of the seminar are being transmitted to the Commission for its consideration (E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.4). In particular, the Special Rapporteur would like to thank Ms. Linda King, Acting Chief, Section of Education for Peace and Human Rights, Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, UNESCO; the Indigenous and Minorities Team of the High Commissioner’s Office; and the European School of Advanced Studies in Cooperation and Development of the University of Pavia, Italy, for the support received in discharging his mandate. I. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND EDUCATION: HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGES 14. Education is an indispensable tool that can help mankind move towards the ideals of peace, freedom and social justice and can promote a more harmonious, more authentic human development aimed at eliminating poverty, exclusion, misunderstanding, oppression and war. The right to education is critical for millions of indigenous people throughout the world, not only as a means of extricating themselves from the exclusion and discrimination that have historically been their fate, but also for the enjoyment, maintenance and respect of their cultures, languages, traditions and knowledge. 15. The systems of formal education historically provided by the State or religious or private groups have been a two-edged sword for indigenous peoples. One the one hand, they have often enabled indigenous children and youth to acquire knowledge and skills that will allow them to move ahead in life and connect with the broader world. On the other hand, formal education, especially when its programmes, curricula and teaching methods come from other societies that are removed from indigenous cultures, has also been a means of forcibly changing and, in some cases, destroying indigenous cultures. 16. The ambiguous nature of education in indigenous communities continues to generate tensions and conflict today. This situation points up the need to consider just what is meant by indigenous education and how the human right to education should be interpreted in the contemporary context of indigenous societies.