In April 2000 the World Education Forum17 adopted the Dakar Framework.18 Article 6 of the Dakar Framework states: Education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty-first century, which are affected by rapid globalization. Achieving EFA goals should be postponed no longer. The basic learning needs of all can and must be met as a matter of urgency. Finally, the World Conference on Human Rights19 has reaffirmed the dual aims of education. In this regard, the Vienna Declaration and Programme for Action (Vienna Declaration) provides that States should strive to eradicate illiteracy and should direct education towards the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.20 General Comments and Recommendations Both the CESCR and the Children’s Committee have affirmed the dual aims of education.21 In 1999, the Children’s Committee stated that every child has a right to an education designed to provide the child with life skills, to strengthen the child’s capacity to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture which is infused by appropriate human rights values. The CESCR referred to the educational aims and objectives identified in the ICESCR and the UDHR and considered that perhaps the most fundamental objective is that “education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality”. The CESCR took the view that States must ensure that education conforms to the aims and objectives identified in the ICESCR, as interpreted in the light of the World Declaration on Education for All, the CRC, the Vienna Declaration and the Plan of Action for the United 17 See Education for All Meeting Our Collective Commitments, Text adopted by the World Education Forum, Dakar Senegal, 26 – 28 April 2000, Expanded Commentary on the Dakar Framework for Action, Paris 23 May 2000 at http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/wef_2000/expanded_com_eng.sht ml (last accessed 13 March 2007) for an explanation of the World Education Forum and the Dakar Framework for Action. 18 The Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments; Adopted by the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, 26-28 April 2000. See also appendix 3 for more information. 19 See http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/1/initiatives.htm (last accessed 13 March 2007) for an explanation of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, including the World Conference on Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration. 20 Vienna Declaration, Part II at para 79. See also Part I at para 33. 21 CESCR General Comment No. 13: The right to education E/C.12/1999/10 8 December 1999 at paras 4 – 5 and Children’s Committee General Comment No. 1: The Aims of Education CRC/GC/2001/1 17 April 2001 at para 2. 39