A/HRC/4/62 page 5 B. Treaty bodies 5. As of 6 December 2006, 155 States had ratified or acceded to ICESCR, with 4 new ratifications during the present reporting period. At its thirty-sixth session in May 2006, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held a day of general discussion on article 9 of the Covenant (the right to social security). On the basis of this discussion, CESCR began a first reading of a draft general comment at its thirty-seventh session in November 2006. At the same session CESCR also continued its consideration of its draft general comment on article 2, paragraph 2, of the Covenant (non-discrimination). 6. In May and November 2006, the Joint Expert Group of UNESCO (CR) [Committee on Recommendations]/ECOSOC (CESCR) on the Monitoring of the Right to Education held meetings to discuss and clarify the right to compulsory primary education available free to all. In November 2006, Committee members participated in a colloquium organized by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations to review progress made in protecting labour rights through international supervision. Also in November, CESCR held an informal consultation on the impact of international trade on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights with experts in the field of trade and human rights. 7. In the process of considering States parties’ reports in 2006, the Committee on the Rights of the Child continued to emphasize the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by children. The Committee in particular referred to the use of the “maximum extent of available resources” and States’ responsibility to take steps towards the progressive realization of these rights; discrimination in enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights including in access to services; as well as disproportionately vulnerable or disadvantaged groups or regional disparities. Given the importance of the topic, the Committee decided, at its forty-third session in September 2006, to devote its next day of general discussion, scheduled for 21 September 2007, to article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same session, the Committee adopted a general comment on the rights of children with disabilities (CRC/C/GC/9), in which it provides guidance and assistance to States parties in a comprehensive manner that covers all the provisions of the Convention, including in particular with regard to the rights to education and health. C. Special procedures 8. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur on the right to housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari, carried out missions to Australia and Spain. In September, he took part in the joint mission of special procedures mandate holders to Lebanon and Israel (see A/HRC/2/7). The Special Rapporteur continued to actively engage with States on housing rights, whether through direct talks with State representatives or through communications, the majority of which related to cases of forced evictions. In this respect, he presented a set of “Basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement” at the second session of the Human Rights Council (see E/CN.4/2006/41). The Special Rapporteur also presented a study on women and adequate housing, based on regional consultations (E/CN.4/2006/118). 9. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (“right to health”), Paul Hunt, undertook