E/C.12/GAB/CO/1 system suffers from, inter alia, a severe lack of trained teachers and inadequate curricula (arts. 13 and 14). The Committee recommends that the State party allocate sufficient resources to uphold the right to education for everyone and to address the root causes of its school dropout and repetition rates. It also recommends that the State party adopt a literacy and non-formal education policy and continue its efforts to ensure that human rights are taught at all levels of the education system. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education. 31. The Committee regrets that it has not been provided with information on the application of the principle of cultural self-identification in the State party or on the legally protected rights of ethnic groups (art. 15). The Committee requests that the State party provide information in its next periodic report on the application of the principle of cultural self-identification in the State party. In view of the State party’s ethnic diversity, the Committee recommends that it ensure that its laws protect the rights guaranteed to all ethnic groups, including the right to enjoy their cultural diversity, their traditions, their customs and their own languages, as well as all other manifestations of their identities and cultural ties. The Committee refers the State party to its general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. 32. The Committee encourages the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which it signed on 24 September 2009. 33. The Committee encourages the State party to consider ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, as well as the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 34. The Committee requests that the State party widely disseminate these concluding observations among all sectors of society, particularly the civil service, the judiciary and civil society organizations, and that it provide information in its next periodic report regarding the steps taken to implement them. The Committee encourages the State party to invite civil society organizations to take part in discussions held at the national level leading up to the submission of its next periodic report. 35. The Committee invites the State party to update its core document (HRI/CORE/1/Add.65/Rev.1), submitted in 1998, in accordance with the harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties (HRI/MC/2006/3). 36. The Committee requests that the State party submit its second periodic report, in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the Committee in 2008 (E/C.12/2008/2), by 30 November 2018. 8 GE.13-49980

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