A/HRC/22/61 has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection”. The conditions of the urban poor are rarely sufficient to meet this quality of life. C. Right to education 17. The right to work is closely tied to the right to education, yet enrolment among the urban poor is decreasing in many places.36 Limited access to quality education not only means that the urban poor cannot gain the necessary skills to secure more stable, higherpaying employment but also accounts for differences in wages.37 These patterns can also be generational; parents who are low-skilled and poorly educated are less able to provide their children with opportunities to secure a poverty-free adulthood.38 18. Urban poor families‟ limited access to quality education is owed to several common factors. First, despite free schooling, indirect costs such as uniforms, textbooks and supplies often make it prohibitive for households with very limited economic means. Second, the transition between primary and secondary school is tenuous, as many children leave school to find work in order to supplement household income, illustrating the difficult economic decisions that poor urban families must make. 39 Third, urban poor communities may simply not have access to enough school facilities. One study in the Kibera slum of Nairobi revealed that, while there were 14 free primary public schools within walking distance, the facilities could only accommodate 20,000 of the more than 100,000 school-aged children in the area.40 Fourth, even if they are available, there are often dangers associated with travelling to and from schools, especially in poor urban areas, or at the schools themselves, including sexual abuse and mistreatment. 41 Finally, the quality of education available to poor, urban communities is usually far inferior; in some cases, the poor quality of school facilities and teaching is a major factor in family decisions to remove their children from school.42 These challenges also disproportionately affect girls. 19. Education is both a human right and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights. It is an “empowerment right” and “the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities”.43 For many of the urban poor, however, unequal access to quality education challenges this right and, by extension, their ability secure a poverty-free life for themselves and following generations. 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 8 UNFPA, State of World Population 2007, p. 28; Eduardo López Moreno and others, State of the World’s Cities 2006/7 (UN-Habitat, 2006), p. 128. See Omar Arias, Gustavo Yamada and Luis Tejerina, “Education, Family Background and Racial Earnings Inequality in Brazil” (Inter-American Development Bank, 2003). Department for International Development (DFID), “Ending Child Poverty” (London, 2002). UNFPA, State of World Population 2007, p. 18. López Moreno and other, State of the World’s Cities 2006/7, p. 127. See UNICEF, “Poverty and exclusion among urban children”, Innocenti Digest, No. 10 (November 2002), p. 13; UNFPA, State of World Population 2007; Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Failing Our Children: Barriers to the Right to Education” (2005). See UNICEF, “Poverty and exclusion”, p. 13. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education.