E/CN.4/1999/48 page 6 rights and fundamental freedoms. Education shall also enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society. Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all (art. 13 (2) (a)). Each State party shall undertake, within two years, to work out and adopt a detailed plan of action for the progressive implementation, within a reasonable number of years to be fixed in the plan, of the principle of compulsory education free of charge for all (art. 14). 15. On the other hand, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulates that States parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment, inter alia, of economic, social and cultural rights, in particular: “(i) “(ii) “(iii) “(iv) “(v) “(vi) The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration; The right to form and join trade unions; The right to housing; The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services; The right to education and training; The right to equal participation in cultural activities” (art. 5 (e)). 16. Moreover, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women establishes that States parties shall take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the fields of employment (art. 11) and health care (art. 12), as well as other areas of economic and social life (art. 13). In addition, article 14 (1) stipulates that States parties “shall take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and the significant roles which rural women play in the economic survival of their families.” Article 14 (2) calls for measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, the right: “(a) To participate in the elaboration and implementation of development planning at all levels; “(b) To have access to adequate health care facilities, including information, counselling and services in family planning; “(c) To benefit directly from social security programmes; “(d) To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, ... in order to increase their technical proficiency;