A/HRC/44/46 56. Empowerment is, therefore, a multidimensional concept that highlights the need for States not only to safeguard civil and political rights, but also to duly implement economic, social and cultural rights. Its implementation is twofold: it requires enabling people to claim their rights and actively contribute to shaping decisions, policies and practices; and it entails creating conditions for overcoming any obstacle to personal and collective development. To empower individuals affected and their families, the Special Rapporteur calls upon States to develop research that can identify the groups that are more vulnerable to leprosy-related discrimination and to invest in the education, participation and access to justice for those groups. A. Education 57. Education is both a human right and a means to fulfil other rights. Education promotes peace, reduces poverty and empowers disadvantaged groups. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that one of the goals of the right to education, whether public or private, formal or non-formal, is ensuring both the full development of individuals and generalized respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Those goals are furthered in article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which reinforces the role of education for the full development of the human personality and for enabling all persons to participate in a free society built upon common understanding among different social groups. Education is key for materializing the rights to dignity and equality in social relations. 58. The principles and guidelines affirm the right to equal access to education opportunities and progress at school by persons affected and their family members, prohibiting the denial of admission or expulsion from school or training programmes on the grounds of having or having had leprosy. It is recommended that States also implement measures that can encourage increasing access for affected persons to educational opportunities. Provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are key for its implementation. 59. In its general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, recalled article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and underscored the far-reaching importance of education. Education should be child-centred, child-friendly and empowering. The Convention is clear in stating that the child’s right to education is not only a matter of access, but also of content. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have called attention to how education systems can produce and reproduce exclusion, outlining guidelines for States to overcome exclusion. In its general recommendation No. 36 (2017) on the right of girls and women to education, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that equality and non-discrimination as part of the right to education involved three aspects: equal access to education; equal rights within the education system; and equal rights by means of education. Importantly, the Committee drew attention to the need to materialize equality in the way in which education was provided and to direct education for the transformation of disadvantaged social positioning and move forward the structurally disadvantaged positioning of women in society. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls for inclusive education. In its general comment No. 4 (2016) on the right to inclusive education, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities identified hindering factors to the right to education, at all levels and for all students, and enumerated the main features of inclusive education, some of which were: taking a wholeperson approach; establishing a learning-friendly environment; and ensuring reasonable accommodation when necessary. 60. Access to education by persons affected and their family members is therefore not independent of the creation of an inclusive and enabling environment in which the system succeeds in diagnosing and correcting shortcomings related to educational progress. Similarly, education is expected to become an instrument for critical discussion, recognition and dissemination of the human rights of affected persons. States should promote 15