Chapter 1 | Page 29 Development Index (HDI) in South Asia,72 especially in terms of health and welfare indicators.73 The Maldives is party to a number of international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which was ratified on 19 September 2006.74 The Constitution of Maldives also explicitly recognises a number of ESC rights, particularly in relation to rights to adequate food, water, clothing, housing, healthcare, sanitation, electricity (Article 23); right to education (Article 36); right to work (Article 37); and cultural rights (Article 39).75 Also enshrined in the Constitution is the requirement to decentralise public services to the inhabited islands. As is the case on other small island nations, however, cost-effective service delivery has always been difficult in the Maldives due to its dispersed population and geographic challenges. Despite these inherent challenges, the Maldives has made significant progress in some aspects of economic, social and cultural rights such as education, health and welfare, although other areas, such as employment, housing and standard of living, remain underdeveloped. In relation to education, primary level enrolment currently stands at 94 percent, with about 62,000 students and 6,000 teachers in approximately 220 public 72 Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the United Nations Development Programme in the Maldives, Maldives Human Development Report 2014 - Bridging The Divide: Addressing Vulnerability, Reducing Inequality (UNDP, Government of Maldives, Male', Maldives, 2014) <http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/maldives_hdr2014_full_report_0.pdf>. 73 According to the World Bank data, life expectancy in Maldives is 74.8 years; child mortality under 5 is 11 out of 100,000; maternal mortality ratio is higher at 37 out of 100,000; adult literacy stands at 98.4 percent; and public expenditures on combined health and education stand at 17.86 percent of GDP. The World Bank, above n 69. 74 Maldives ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (24 April 1984); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (24 April 1984); Convention on the Rights of the Child (11 February 1991); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1 July 1993); Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (20 April 2004); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (19 September 2006) ; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (5 April 2010). Maldives is yet to make any reports to the ESCR committee under the Covenant, although the initial and first periodic report are overdue. 75 "Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyage Qaanoonu Asaasee" (Constitution of the Republic of Maldives) 2008.