A/HRC/44/46 cooperation between the health-care, welfare and education systems, in order to prevent discriminatory attitudes within the education system. The involvement of parents or caregivers and the community and the participation of children affected and the children of persons affected, in accordance with their evolving capacities, should also be guaranteed for the creation of an inclusive and enabling environment. 61. The enforcement of the right to education by persons affected and their family members should be grounded in the elimination of discrimination, the availability of education services, the accessibility of all levels of education, the promotion of training and skills development opportunities and reasonable accommodation. To that end, strategies grounded in the specific context and needs must be developed in close consultation with persons affected and their families and should consider: ensuring that children affected by leprosy participate on an equal basis with other children in education services and recreational, leisure and sporting activities; increasing the enrolment and retention rates of affected children in the education system; enhancing the empowering effects of education by equipping students with the capacity to claim and exercise their rights; training teachers to adopt constructivist strategies that stimulate self-worth and confidence among students; eradicating illiteracy among affected persons; providing for continued and life-long learning, as well as technical and vocational education, as part of both the right to education and the right to work; ensuring the availability of counselling services, psychoeducational methods and medical care within education establishments; guaranteeing reasonable accommodation and support to students when needed; using the education system as an opportunity for raising awareness of leprosy and the human rights of persons affected; fostering the rights to freedom of speech and the participation of children affected in any decision-making process involving their lives, in accordance with their evolving capacities and in respect of their own choices of how to express themselves, including in non-written and/or non-verbal forms; targeting schools as a primary locus for education on leprosy and on the human rights of persons affected; using leprosy as a paradigmatic example in human rights education; and, in line with the recommendation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to ensure equal rights within the system, medical schools should ensure that their curricula properly include leprosy and in such a way that fully respects the voice and choice of persons affected with regard to dignified health care and their right to the highest standard of physical and mental health. B. Participation 62. Participation is multidimensional, including the elements of representative democracy, participatory democracy, non-governmental organizations and communities and epistemic communities, as well as the family sphere. Participation can simultaneously play a role in empowering persons affected and their family members and enable them to become agents of change. Participation in decision-making is not only a right, it is also pivotal for the production of more effective responses to problems. The Special Rapporteur has previously called attention to persons affected as being lay experts and called for the inclusion of situated knowledge in scientific research related to leprosy and in data collection and policymaking (see A/HRC/38/42). Moreover, the involvement of persons affected and their representative organizations and non-governmental organizations, as well as research and training institutions, should be a fundamental part of the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all leprosy-related policies, which should ensure transparency and the democratization of information and create the mechanisms for holding policymakers, but also the private sector, accountable. 63. International conventions and treaties, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognize the right of everyone to political participation and representation in public office. The opportunity of everyone to take part on an equal basis in public affairs and to have access to inclusive representation is key for the exercise of democracy and of the right to self-determination. For underrepresented groups, exercising the right to participation in public office and politics may require additional 16