A/HRC/32/18 obligation to protect all individuals from all forms of violence and to address sexual and gender-based violence within the private and public spheres.27 5. Denial of the right to health 38. The availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of health facilities, goods and services are extremely poor across Rakhine State. The consequences of limited access to health facilities include delays in treatment, reliance on alternative health care, the escalation of preventable diseases and poor overall health outcomes. 39. Rohingya and Kaman communities face a disproportionate burden owing to discriminatory barriers, including restrictions on freedom of movement, which have a severe impact on the right to health, in particular with regard to access to emergency and life-saving care. OHCHR received credible reports of death caused by lack of access to health facilities or of timely treatment, often where there was a township hospital in close proximity.28 In townships surrounding Sittwe, including Pauktaw and Myebon, Muslims have no free access to township hospitals; emergency cases must be referred to Sittwe General Hospital through an onerous and time-consuming referral process, which entails boat travel and police escorts. Muslim patients are confined to a segregated ward, where allegations and rumours of discriminatory treatment persist. The situation leads to a general reluctance to seek care at the facility. In northern Rakhine State, patients have access to township hospitals but are required to obtain costly and time-consuming travel authorizations, pass through checkpoints and face additional limitations imposed by the curfew, which in some cases may lead to serious and life-threatening delays in an emergency situation. Delays in seeking or receiving emergency obstetric treatment can have particularly devastating consequences and are a major cause of death of babies and for women experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. 40. Restrictions placed on Muslim communities in their access to public health facilities constitute a violation of the right to health;29 if they lead to death, they may also amount to a violation of the right to life. Equal and non-discriminatory access to medical treatment, facilities and care should be ensured for all people in Myanmar, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or citizenship status. 6. Denial of the right to education 41. Rakhine State has one of the lowest rates of literacy in the country, while the lack of education opportunities and access to adequate education affects all its inhabitants. Muslim communities face additional barriers owing to protracted displacement, restrictions on freedom of movement and discrimination (see CRC/C/MMR/CO/3-4, paras. 96–97, A/70/412, para. 36 and A/HRC/28/72, para. 55).30 Non-citizens, including Rohingya, are excluded from studying a number of “liberal professions”, such as medicine, economics and engineering (for example, the university admission guide for 2013 required university applicants to be “citizens of Myanmar”). Since the outbreak of violence in 2012, they are also excluded from tertiary education at the only university in Rakhine State, in Sittwe, on “security grounds”. 27 28 29 30 10 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2. In the cases reported, OHCHR is unable to determine whether patients would have survived had emergency treatment been given. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 12; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 25. In violation of Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 2 and 28.