that every student obtains the education necessary to meaningfully participate in the economic and political life of the country. To facilitate this, the Draft Recommendation should make it clear that governments need to articulate standards by which their actions can be judged. Ms. Eliane Cavalleiro, Former head of racial inclusion policies for the Ministry of Education, Brazil, discussed several issues including barriers to educational access, such as social, financial and pedagogical barriers. She highlighted the principle of nondiscrimination on the basis of race and gender. In particular, Ms. Cavalleiro recommended the encouragement and support to all State organs to implement the Plan of Action of the Third World Conference to Combat Racism (Durban 2001). Mr. Nadir Redzepi of the Roma Education Fund in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia addressed the issues of exclusion of members of minorities from schools and their dropout rates, desegregation of the education system, barriers for poor and marginalized groups including linguistic barriers. Mr. Redzepi made recommendations for the official recognition of minority languages and introduction into the curriculum suggesting that a voluntary fund could comprise an effective tool to remove barriers and discrimination. Ms. Anastasia Crickley, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, spoke about the importance of gender and disaggregated data, an intercultural approach to education, and the need to monitor participation and educational outcomes at all levels. Ms. Crickley highlighted that it is essential to go beyond focusing only on access, to consider and monitor access, participation and educational outcomes for minorities including ethnic minorities. Mr. Biram Dah Abeid, Lawyer and researcher, Save Slave Organisation, Mauritania, talked about impediments to effective access to education for members of minority communities resulting from forced labour. He made several recommendations including the establishment of a system of school canteens and dormitories to accommodate groups suffering from extreme poverty. Ms. Sawsan Zaher, Attorney, Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, made her intervention with respect to Draft Recommendations 24, 25, 27, 28, 32 and 33 highlighting in particular the situation of women and girls. Ms. Zaher suggested that the language of the recommendation with respect to the “costing of educational policies” is insufficient in that the “costing” of education policies should not be calculated according to needs only, but also on the basis of the principle of equal treatment, and in a manner that will ensure that education is readily accessible for all. Equal treatment could entail the allocation of resources for advancing the right to education among minority groups that have been victims of historical injustices committed against them or discrimination in realizing the right to education. This critique should be seen within the context of the obligation stipulated by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) for State Parties to take immediate steps to provide primary education (and General Comment 14 of the 9