A/HRC/19/75 determinants of health, such as access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, an adequate supply of safe food, nutrition and housing, healthy occupational and environmental conditions, and access to health-related education and information, including on sexual and reproductive health. 55 51. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States parties to the Covenant must ensure that medical services and the underlying determinants of health are available to all, including people working in rural areas. Furthermore, States have a minimum core obligation to ensure, as a minimum and at all times, the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups; access to the minimum essential food that is nutritionally adequate and safe to ensure freedom from hunger to everyone; and access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe drinking water. 56 4. Rights to water and sanitation 52. The human rights to water and sanitation have witnessed a remarkable development in the past years.57 The recognition by States that the rights have a self-standing legal meaning is explained by their centrality for enjoying a dignified life; they are also a precondition for the realization of most other human rights of the two Covenants.58 The rights to water and sanitation contain freedoms and entitlements, including the right to be free from arbitrary disconnections or contamination of water supplies, and the right to a system of water supply and to sanitation facilities that are available, of good quality, affordable and physically accessible, non-discriminatory and culturally and gender acceptable.59 53. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation have stressed that States have the obligation to progressively extend access to water and safe sanitation services with priority to vulnerable groups from rural and deprived urban areas with a particular focus on the needs of women and children. 60 5. Right to education 54. Stipulated in article 26 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the right to education is equally guaranteed under article 13 of the Covenant. Primary education shall be compulsory and free for all, secondary and higher education (the latter on basis of capacity) shall be made accessible to all by the progressive introduction of free education. The right to receive education is underpinned by the best interests of the student as primary consideration and a number of substantive feature: educational institutions and programmes have to be available in sufficient number in urban, as well as rural areas; they have to be physically and economically accessible without discrimination; the form and substance of 55 56 57 58 59 60 E/C.12/2000/4, paras. 1 and 4. Ibid., paras. 12, 36 and 43. C. Golay, C. Mahon, I. Cismas, “The impact of UN special procedures on the development and implementation of economic, social and cultural rights”, The International Journal of Human Rights, 15:2, pp. 301–302. Human Rights Council resolution 7/22 of 28 March 2008; General Assembly resolution 64/292 of 28 July 2010. E/C.12/2002/11; A/HRC/12/24. E/C.12/2002/11, paras. 16, 26, 29; A/HRC/12/24, paras. 32, 52. 15