A/HRC/17/29 one of the EFA goals. In this respect, the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities provides a basis for action. The 2008 United Nations Forum on Minority Issues was devoted to the right to education, and produced recommendations which apply to the situations of minorities globally with respect to the right to education.41 These are highly relevant to equality of opportunity in education for other disadvantaged groups. Indigenous groups also face important challenges when accessing education. In this regard, apart from core international human rights treaties, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples42 provides a normative base for action. 49. Other groups vulnerable to limited opportunities in education and requiring targeted support include persons with disabilities, children living in the street or without parental care, migrant workers and their families, refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by natural disasters or conflict. Moreover, nomad populations, including pastoral populations who remain deprived of equal opportunities in education, deserve special attention, especially in Africa. 50. In all such circumstances, different types of barriers emerge as the central factors in the limited enjoyment of the right to education of these various population groups. Understanding these different obstacles and their inter-relationship is a permanent challenge for developing effective education policies to ensure non-discrimination and equal opportunities in education. 51. Even if international human rights standards do not provide specific policy prescriptions with regard to the vast possibilities of initiatives required to ensure equal opportunities in education, they establish a firm foundation for implementing and evaluating policy initiatives at the national level. Given the broad nature of sources of inequalities in education, it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive description or analysis of measures adopted with the declared aim of promoting equal opportunities in education. 52. An illustrative overview of key factors affecting equality of opportunity in education, as well as some initiatives designed to counter barriers to achieving de facto equality of opportunity in education are provided below. A. Physical barriers 53. Inadequate public transportation and inadequate school facilities can be determinant factors in excluding students from the education system. Persons living in poverty are particularly affected; the concentration of communities living in poverty in remote areas or in areas that are poorly served by transportation is a key factor limiting their access to education institutions. This is particularly acute in rural areas where schools are not present.43 These obstacles are commonly addressed through support for transportation of students, and by bringing schools closer to communities, often through improvements in transport infrastructure and the construction and expansion of education establishments in poorly served locations. Strategies also include the establishment of boarding schools. 54. Threat of violence against girls on the way to and from schools limits their education opportunities: household surveys in many countries identify distance as a major factor in 41 42 43 14 See Recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues (A/HRC/10/11/Add.1). Adopted by General Assembly resolution 61/295. UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, p. 192.