A/HRC/2/2 A/HRC/Sub.1/58/36 page 36 30. The right to drinkable water is directly linked to the right to life. Negligence, omission or planning that results in an absence of water distribution services must be regarded as action threatening human life. Likewise, the destruction of the means of supplying water, the sale of water rights and privatization or management of water resources that results in a lack of access to drinkable water for groups of the population must be regarded as an encroachment upon this right. H. Right to housing 31. Persons living in extreme poverty have the right to dignified housing affording suitable protection from the climate, enabling them to have a family life and to develop as individuals in dignity and decency. 32. All who live in extreme poverty have the right to private, individual, cooperative or collective ownership of their housing, furniture and utensils of every kind; in rural areas they have the right to collective or individual ownership of their land, housing, tools, animals and other daily necessities. The State is under an obligation to guarantee the poor access to housing in a manner that will spur improvements in their living conditions. 33. As part of their poverty eradication policies, States should place especial emphasis on housing policy and encourage the active involvement of those living in extreme poverty in the design, execution, management, administration and evaluation of housing policy. States should be especially attentive to the quality and suitability of any public housing that is built. Corruption, poor management of building materials and negligence must be severely punished by the judicial system and regarded as a kind of discrimination and a breach of the human rights of the poor. I. Right to education and culture 34. All who live in extreme poverty have a right to education. They and their children are entitled to have access to basic education and schooling at all the levels offered by the education system, without being exposed to segregation or discrimination of any kind. The State should most particularly ensure that children living in extreme poverty have access to education. 35. All who live in extreme poverty have a right of access to culture and the arts. Special programmes affording access to culture, instruction, reading, art and literature and resource-management and administration programmes should be set up in collaboration with, and with the active involvement of, the poor and their families as means of eradicating hardship. Cultural and instructive programmes, whether designed and executed by the State or by private entities, should seek to uphold the dignity of the poor, promote awareness of their rights, and accord due recognition to their experience.