A/HRC/6/17 page 17 differences in the level of school enrolment for boys and for girls still exist. The Ministry of Education stated that school attendance is low in many urban settlements as well, such as Istanbul, and not only in the south-eastern regions. However, it appears that this problem is, at least in part, attributable to the high level of internal displacement of persons, primarily of Kurdish ethnicity, from the east and south-east.32 Special programmes are in place to encourage school enrolment, particularly in the east and south-east, and a special scheme for the promotion of attendance of girls has been launched (A/HRC/4/26/Add.2, paras. 62 and 63). 53. Another issue concerning the right to education is the closing or restricting the operation of or access to religious schools, or preventing their establishment under the justification of fighting terrorism. The issue has received attention in many countries, including Pakistan.33 While the Special Rapporteur certainly agrees on the imperative of States taking decisive action against training for terrorism, he wishes to remind Governments that both the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights protect the right of families to secure an education for their children, in conformity with their religious or other convictions. 54. In China, criminal charges are often laid against members of the Uighur minority in connection with the “evil forces” of “separatism, terrorism and religious extremism”. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, this has reportedly occurred in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, which is calling for independence.34 The Khotan Communist Party Committee reportedly stated, in 2002, that they had found several illegal religious extremist activities which severely influenced and disturbed society mainly through education. Because of this situation, the schools and teaching bodies were reorganized by the Communist Party Committee, therefore affecting the enjoyment of the right to education. 55. In India, the Naxalite conflict between the Maoist Communist party, the Government’s security forces and the Salwa Judum (a movement against the Naxalites) is mainly localized in the poorer, rural areas. In 2006, over 700 people were killed, most of them civilians. Because of the conflict, many people from the rural areas who formerly made their livelihood on small-scale farming and forestry have been displaced. Their means of livelihood has been destroyed by the displacement. Also, children’s right to education has been restricted through the Salwa Judum 32 See “Hacettepe University’s population survey assesses twenty-year displacements” (2006), available from www.internal-displacement.org. 33 International Crisis Group, “Pakistan: Karachi’s madrasas and violent extremism”, Asia report No. 130, 29 March 2007, available from www.crisisgroup.org. 34 Kevin Boyle, “Terrorism, states of emergency and human rights”, Anti-Terrorist Measures and Human Rights, Leiden/Boston 2004, p.111. See also “In the name of counter-terrorism: human rights abuses worldwide”, A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper for the fifty-nineth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, March 2003, available from http://hrw.org/un/chr59/counter-terrorism-bck4.htm.