CRPD/C/GC/4 IV. Relationship with other provisions of the Convention 44. States parties must recognize the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. Education is integral to the full and effective realization of other rights. 16 Conversely, the right to inclusive education can only be realized if certain other rights are implemented. Moreover, the right to inclusive education must be underpinned by the creation of inclusive environments throughout society. This will require the adoption of the human rights model of disability, which recognizes the obligation to remove societal barriers that serve to exclude and marginalize persons with disabilities and the need to adopt measures to ensure implementation of the rights set out below. 45. Article 5 enshrines the principle of equal protection of all persons before and under the law. States parties must prohibit all disability-based discrimination and provide persons with disabilities effective and equal protection against discrimination on all grounds. To address systemic and structural discrimination and to ensure “equal benefit of the law”, States parties must take affirmative action measures, such as removing architectural and communicative or other barriers to mainstream education. 46. Article 6 recognizes that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and that States parties must adopt measures to ensure the equal enjoyment of their rights. Intersectional discrimination and exclusion pose significant barriers to the realization of the right to education for women and girls with disabilities. States parties must identify and remove those barriers, including gender-based violence and the lack of value placed on the education of women and girls, and put in place specific measures to ensure that the right to education is not impeded by gender and/or disability discrimination, stigma or prejudice. Harmful gender and/or disability stereotypes in textbooks and curricula must be eliminated. Education plays a vital role in combating traditional notions of gender that perpetuate patriarchal and paternalistic societal frameworks. 17 States parties must ensure access for and the retention of girls and women with disabilities in education and rehabilitation services, as instruments for their development, advancement and empowerment. 47. Article 7 asserts that, in all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. The concept of best interests is aimed at ensuring the full and effective enjoyment by the child of all human rights and the child’s holistic development.18 Any determination of the best interests of a child with a disability must consider the child’s own views and individual identity, the preservation of the family, care, protection and safety of the child, any particular vulnerability, and the child’s right to health and education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that the best interests of the child must be the basis on which education policies and provisions are determined. Article 7 (3) further asserts that children with disabilities have the right to express their views and that their views on all matters affecting them should be given due weight, in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and that they must be provided with disability- and age-appropriate assistance. Guaranteeing the right of children to participate in their education must be applied equally to children with disabilities, in their own learning and individualized education plans, 16 17 18 Ibid., general comment No. 11 (1999) on plans of action for primary education and general comment No. 13. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, “Concept note on the draft general recommendation on girls’/women’s right to education” (2014). Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration. 13