A/HRC/24/57 68. As noted earlier, children with albinism are at high risk of abandonment, and women giving birth to children with albinism are often repudiated by their husband and families. Families frequently neglect the education of children with albinism as they believe their education is a waste of resources. Those who attend school often suffer from teasing and bullying from classmates. In some cases, their inability to see the blackboard, owing to significant vision impairment, forces them to drop out of school.60 As a result, many have low education levels and do not have all the necessary social or economic tools to live productive lives. This marginalization can be a contributing factor to a shorter life expectancy than for other members of the same society. 69. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health noted that “people living with albinism often do not receive the necessary special attention, health care or treatment that corresponds to their health needs”.61 Many cannot, for example, afford simple remedies, such as sun cream, that would protect them from the elevated risk of developing skin cancer. 70. Without effective and affordable access to justice, persons with albinism are denied the possibility of claiming their rights and contesting the abuses or human rights violations to which they are exposed.62 71. All these forms of discrimination are interrelated, and the principle of the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights should be highlighted.63 The right to education of persons with albinism, for instance, is adversely affected due to the vision impairment they suffer. A poor education, in turn, affects the right to an adequate standard of living, consigning many persons with albinism to poverty. 72. The right to work is provided for in article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which thus prohibits discrimination in access to and maintenance of employment, including on the basis of colour and on the ground of “other status”. It also prohibits denying or limiting equal access to decent work to all persons, especially disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups.64 Reference is also made to the ILO Convention No. 111 (1958) concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation. The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is recognized by article 12, paragraph 1, of the Covenant. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “health facilities, goods and services must be accessible to all, especially the most vulnerable or marginalized sections of the population, in law and in fact, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds”.65 Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of 60 61 62 63 64 65 14 The Special Rapporteur on the right to education has referred to dropout rates of children with albinism and ways to reduce them (press statement, “Not ghosts”). All the written submissions received from civil society referred to discrimination in education and/or incessant bullying and name-calling. See press statement, “Not ghosts”. See paragraphs 49–56 of the present report describing the challenges persons with albinism face in accessing justice. See for instance, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, paragraph 3, referring to how the right to health is closely related to and dependent upon the realization of other human rights, including the rights to food, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination and the prohibition against torture. Ibid., general comment No. 18 (2005) on the right to work, paragraphs 12 (b) (i) and 23. General comment No. 14, paragraph 12 (b).