A/CONF.189/PC.2/22 page 40 7 In this connection, see Mustapha Mehedi, “The realization of the right to education” (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/10, paras. 2, 5 and 6) and “The content of the right to education” (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/10, paras. 20 et seq.). See also Manfred Nowak, “The right to education” in A. Eide et al., Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dordrecht, M. Nijhoff, 1995, p. 198. Along the same lines, reference may be made to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23, Part I, para. 5). 8 If we accept the didactic definition contained in the French dictionary Le Robert, culture is “the set of acquired forms of behaviour in human society” and, insofar as culture encompasses all that is inherited or transmitted, particularly through education, the right to culture overlaps to a considerable extent with the right to education. In this connection, two relevant texts are cited by Francesco Capotorti in paragraphs 222 and 339 of his “Study on the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities” (Geneva and New York, 1991). Human Rights Study Series, No. 5 (Revised version of document E/CN.4/Sub.2/384). United Nations publication, Sales No. E.91.XIV.2): the first is by Michel Leiris (Race and civilization, Paris, UNESCO, 1951, pp. 20 and 21) and the second by Boutros Boutros Ghali, “The right to culture and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, Cultural Rights as Human Rights, Paris, UNESCO (SHC.68/XIX.3/A, p.73). 9 Article 26, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; article 13, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; principle 7 of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child; article 28, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; article 1 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man; article 8 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights; article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, the negative wording of which, “no person shall be denied the right to education”, must not be understood as involving only an obligation to refrain. 10 This explains why the words “Every person has the right to education” are used not in the body of the Convention, but in one of the first two preambular paragraphs referring to the international instruments forming the substantive basis of the Convention. 11 See Mustafa Mehedi, “The realization of the right to education” (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/10, para. 6). 12 When the absorption capacity of primary or secondary schools is smaller than the number of school-age children, the provisions relating to free and compulsory education are merely obligations of means whose gradual fulfilment by the State will depend on the available financial and human resources. 13 In this connection, see, for example, the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, article 12, paragraph 3, of which provides for “equal opportunities for access to education at all levels for persons belonging to national minorities”.