A/HRC/31/32 education, the specific right to technical and vocational education and guidance and the right to work, as one of the functions of education is preparation for professional life. 55 On the other hand, the State duty to protect children entails protection against all forms of labour and exploitation or violence that could interfere in their education, development and health, which involves minimum age requirements for entry into the labour market and the appropriate regulation of hours and conditions of employment. 56 39. ILO considers the abolition of child labour as one of the four fundamental rights and principles at work that are considered mandatory for all States members of the organization.57 There is a strong association between child labour, poverty and the violation of other human rights, since working during childhood may be detrimental to the development of the child. In 2010, 215 million children were still engaged in unlawful, mostly unpaid, hazardous, compulsory labour or in the informal economy. 58 According to article 2 (3) of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), the minimum age of employment shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling. 59 The State should ensure effective access to education and vocational programmes at least up to that minimum age for all children.60 7. Protection against unemployment 40. While the right to work is interdependent with and indivisible from all other human rights, it is important to underscore the particular complementarity of State obligations regarding the rights to work and to social security. As noted above, the right to work does not entail an absolute and unconditional right to obtain employment. This constitutes a recognition that, while States have a duty to adopt proactive employment policies, the provision of employment for each individual may be beyond their control. Thus, the positive obligation to take steps to promote an economic environment conducive to the creation of jobs should be seen as an obligation of conduct, rather than as an obligation of result.61 41. However, while unemployment and underemployment rates are a function of multiple causes and may not be directly attributable to the State, the failure to fulfil the right to work invokes more exacting obligations in relation to the right to social security. Indeed, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recognized that the right to social security includes both contributory and non-contributory schemes62 and has identified — in line with Convention No. 102 — unemployment as a contingency that should be covered by social security: “In addition to promoting full, productive and freely chosen employment, States parties must endeavour to provide benefits to cover the loss or 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 See International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13, especially 13 (2) (b); Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 28 (1) (d). See Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 32 (2) (b) and, generally, arts. 32-36. See ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138); and Recommendation (No. 146); Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) and Recommendation (No. 190); and ILO, General Survey (2012), Part IV. ILO, General Survey (2012), Part IV, para. 328. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed concern about mismatches between the minimum age to work and the period of compulsory education. See concluding observations on Mexico (E/C.12/MEX/CO/4), Cameroon (E/C.12/CMR/CO/2-3) and Rwanda (E/C.12/RWA/CO/2-4). See Convention No. 138, art. 8. See, for example, ILO Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988 (No. 168), art.7: “Each Member shall declare as a priority objective a policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment by all appropriate means, including social security.” General comment No. 19 (2007) on the right to social security, para. 4. 11