A/CONF.189/PC.2/22 page 6 10. The right to education is provided for in a large number of international instruments. However, the attention it has been given, particularly in terms of its relationship with the problem of racial discrimination and religious intolerance, does not appear to reflect the importance of the stakes described above. The study of legal aspects (chap. I) will enable us to understand the content and scope of these instruments, particularly the universal aspects, the contribution of which will have to be determined, especially as it relates to the practical foundations of racial non-discrimination and religious tolerance. The factual aspects (chap. II) will enable us to work out a typology and then make the necessary recommendations (chap. III) in the light of gaps in the legislation and the realities of discrimination itself. I. LEGAL ASPECTS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN EDUCATION 11. The common feature of all international instruments dealing with education, whether as the main subject matter or in association with human rights, is the principle of non-discrimination. The scope of this principle varies according to the educational system in question (sect. A) and the content of education and the objectives which education is designed to achieve (sect. B). A. Establishment of the educational system 12. There can be no development of the culture of any person or any group and no full enjoyment of other human rights if the person or group does not have access to the right education or is subject to discrimination in education.8 All international instruments unanimously agree in this regard and proclaim this right with slightly different wording, the most common expression being that “Everyone has the right to education” or variations thereon.9 The Convention against Discrimination in Education of 14 December 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the “1960 UNESCO Convention”) warrants some attention, however, because it deals with this question from the viewpoint of the definition of discrimination, including racial and religious discrimination.10 Based on a combined reading of its articles 1 and 4, the following introductory comments may be made on the topic of our study. 13. In the definition of discrimination contained in article 1, paragraph 1, the 1960 UNESCO Convention does not appear to attach any importance to the form discrimination may take. It may take a variety of more or less intense and more or less brutal forms: exclusion, limitation, distinction, preference. Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief of 25 November 1981 defines the term “intolerance” in identical terms, but as it relates to religion or belief; although the two concepts do not necessarily mean the same thing, they have the same result. 14. The 1960 UNESCO Convention also does not appear to be concerned about who is responsible for discrimination. There can be different perpetrators: the State, in the context of separate or non-separate public education; the educational authorities, in the private religious or non-religious sector; and the parents or guardians of a child when they violate a girl child’s right to education, particularly for religious reasons. In this connection, the child has certain rights, whose compulsory nature varies, of course, but which cannot be denied him by the State, by his parents, by his guardians or by society in general.