II. GENERAL COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

•          ICESCR General Comment 16 (Thirty-fourth session, 2005): Article 3: The Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of all Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/2006/22 (2005) 116 at para. 30.

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30. Article 13, paragraph 1, of the Covenant requires States parties to recognize the right of everyone to education and paragraph 2 (a) stipulates that primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all. Implementing article 3, in relation to article 13, requires, inter alia, the adoption of legislation and policies to ensure the same admission criteria for boys and girls at all levels of education. States parties should ensure, in particular through information and awareness-raising campaigns, that families desist from giving preferential treatment to boys when sending their children to school, and that curricula promote equality and non discrimination...

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•          CRC General Comment 2 (Thirty-first session, 2002): The Role of Independent National Human Rights Institutions in the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child, A/59/41 (2004) 82 at para. 19(n).

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19. The following is an indicative, but not exhaustive, list of the types of activities which NHRIs [national human rights institutions] should carry out in relation to the implementation of children’s rights in light of the general principles of the Convention. They should:

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(n) Assist in the formulation of programmes for the teaching of, research into and integration of children’s rights in the curricula of schools and universities and in professional circles;

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•          CRC General Comment 3 (Thirty-second session, 2003): HIV/AIDS and the Rights of the Child, A/59/41 (2004) 89 at para. 17.

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17. Dialogue with community, family and peer counsellors, and the provision of “life skills” education within schools, including skills in communicating on sexuality and healthy living, have been found to be useful approaches to delivering HIV prevention messages to both girls and boys, but different approaches may be necessary to reach different groups of children. States parties must make efforts to address gender differences as they may impact on the access children have to prevention messages, and ensure that children are reached with appropriate prevention messages even if they face constraints due to language, religion, disability or other factors of discrimination. Particular attention must be paid to raising awareness among hard-to-reach populations. In this respect, the role of the mass media and/or oral tradition in ensuring that children have access to information and material, as recognized in article 17 of the Convention, is crucial both to providing appropriate information and to reducing stigmatization and discrimination. States parties should support the regular monitoring and evaluation of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns to ascertain their effectiveness in providing information, reducing ignorance, stigmatization and discrimination, as well as addressing fear and misperceptions concerning HIV and its transmission among children, including adolescents.

•          CRC General Comment 4 (Thirty-third session, 2003): Adolescent Health and Development in the Context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, A/59/41 (2004) 102 at para. 17.

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17. The school plays an important role in the life of many adolescents, as the venue for learning, development and socialization. Article 29 (1) states that education must be directed to “the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential”. In addition, general comment No. 1 on the aims of education states that “Education must also be aimed at ensuring that … no child leaves school without being equipped to face the challenges that he or she can expect to be confronted with in life. Basic skills should include…the ability to make well-balanced decisions; to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner; and to develop a healthy lifestyle [and] good social relationships…”. Considering the importance of appropriate education for the current and future health and development of adolescents, as well as for their children, the Committee urges States parties, in line with articles 28 and 29 of the Convention to (a) ensure that quality primary education is compulsory and available, accessible and free to all and that secondary and higher education are available and accessible to all adolescents; (b) provide well-functioning school and recreational facilities which do not pose health risks to students, including water and sanitation and safe journeys to school; (c) take the necessary actions to prevent and prohibit all forms of violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, corporal punishment and other inhuman, degrading or humiliating treatment or punishment in school, by school personnel as well as among students; (d) initiate and support measures, attitudes and activities that promote healthy behaviour by including relevant topics in school curricula.

•          CERD General Recommendation XXVII (Fifty-seventh session, 2000): Discrimination Against Roma, A/55/18 (2000) 154 at para. 26. For text of General Recommendation, see EQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION - RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.

•          CERD General Recommendation XXIX (Sixty-first session, 2002): On Article 1, Paragraph 1, of the Convention (Descent), A/57/18 (2002) 111 at para. vv. For text of General Recommendation, see EQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION - RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.

•          ICESCR General Comment 13 (Twenty-first session, 1999): Article 13: The Right to Education, E/2000/22 (1999) 111 at paras. 6(c), 12, 16(b), 18, 24, 49 and 50. For text of General Comment, see EDUCATION - RIGHT TO AN EDUCATION.

•          CRC General Comment 1 (Twenty-sixth session, 2001): Article 29 (1): The Aims of Education, CRC/C/103 (2001) 150 at paras. 5, 8-10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18. For text of General Comment, see CHILDREN’S RIGHTS - EDUCATION.

•          CRC General Comment 5 (Thirty-fourth session, 2003): General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6), A/59/41 (2004) 114 at paras. 68 and 69. For text of General Comment, see CHILDREN’S RIGHTS - GENERAL.