UNESCO’s first global guidance on GenAI in education aims to support countries to implement immediate actions, plan long-term policies and develop human capacity to ensure a human-centred vision of these new technologies. The Guidance presents an assessment of potential risks GenAI could pose to core humanistic values that promote human agency, inclusion, equity, gender equality, and linguistic and cultural diversities, as well as plural opinions and expressions. It proposes key steps for governmental agencies to regulate the use of GenAI tools including mandating the protection of data privacy and considering an age limit for their use. It outlines requirements for GenAI providers to enable their ethical and effective use in education.