A/HRC/23/34/Add.1 places, children and youth have free access to cultural or sports clubs in their own neighbourhoods. She was pleased to visit a sports centre for persons with disabilities in Barnaul, also open to persons without disabilities, which includes training for the Paralympics. She was impressed by the Suzuki Teenager Centre in Kazan, one of the main clubs in a network of 67, financially supported by the city of Kazan. The Special Rapporteur is aware that, in Kazan, an interdepartmental plan is being developed to enable persons with disabilities to have access to sport and cultural facilities. She encourages the Republic‟s authorities to address this issue proactively. 40. The Special Rapporteur further commends the authorities for their efforts to ensure a high rate of Internet connectivity for, in particular, cultural and educational institutions. She was informed that, in Altai Krai, all 1,216 general schools on its territory, without exception, have Internet access. National e-libraries have been or are being established to provide free access to literature, and the Internet is available in most rural libraries. 41. Aware that cultural policies in regions vary, the Ministry of Culture seeks to intensify cultural policies in the regions, in cooperation with the Ministry of Regional Development. 42. The Ministry of Regional Development supports a significant number of activities designed to raise public awareness of the history and culture of the peoples of the Russian Federation and to promote ethnic tolerance in society. The visibility and participation of diverse communities is also supported through houses of friendship, ethnic theatres and various festivals. 43. The Special Rapporteur commends the Saint Petersburg authorities for their programme of harmonization of intercultural, inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations, education of the culture of tolerance (tolerance programme), which has entered its second phase. The programme, which aims to ensure, in particular, better integration of immigrants, is believed to have reduced the number of hate crimes in the city. In Saint Petersburg, museums organize exhibitions on ethnic cultures throughout the year. There are more than 193 libraries; in 2004, a library of ethnic literatures was created, free of access. A. Ensuring the right to have access to and enjoy cultural heritage15 1. Access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage, in particular through education The right to learn and use one’s own language and cultural heritage (a) 44. As described above, the Constitution contains key provisions on linguistic rights. Significant achievements have been made in this area. Approximately 10 per cent of teaching in the country is in a language other than Russian; tuition is provided in 39 languages (17 of which are northern indigenous languages). Fifty other languages are taught as separate subjects.16 The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Regional Development, in particular, support the publication and supply of educational literature in the languages and dialects of the numerically small indigenous peoples of the North and undertake activities promoting these languages, such as assisting some of those peoples to develop their own script and alphabet. 15 16 A/HRC/17/38, paras. 78-79. Presentation by the Russian Federation to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (see footnote 1). 9