A/HRC/15/41 also implies the need to ensure that adequate transportation is available to communities living in extreme poverty, thereby reducing travel time to services; (b) The need to ensure the affordability of facilities, goods and services. This includes measures to ensure that persons living in extreme poverty are not disproportionally charged due to low consumption rates. It may also include regulating markets to ensure affordable costs for essential goods and eliminating user fees for essential services. Affordability should not detract from the obligation to ensure free access in some cases, such as for primary education, which must be compulsory and free of direct and indirect costs;37 (c) The need to ensure the acceptability and adaptability of facilities, goods and services with regard to the specific needs of persons living in extreme poverty, taking into account cultural differences, language barriers or the requirements of tailor-made assistance for groups with special needs, such as older persons, children living on the street and other homeless people, persons with disabilities, and indigenous peoples; (d) The need to ensure adequate quality of the facilities, goods and services provided. This includes monitoring quality of service, whether provided by local governments or private companies. It also involves creating incentives for well-qualified service providers to work in areas inhabited by persons in extreme poverty. J. Ensuring international assistance and cooperation 58. Given that extreme poverty is greatly concentrated within countries where human and financial resources are scarce, international assistance and cooperation play an essential role in improving the situation of those living in extreme poverty. Numerous legally binding obligations38 and political commitments39 underline the shared international responsibility for poverty reduction. 59. A revised version of the draft guiding principles should: • 37 38 39 Reaffirm the obligations to provide international assistance and cooperation, as established in international human rights law, and stress the obligations of States requiring assistance to seek and manage external assistance according to human rights principles. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment Nos. 11 (1999) on plans of action for primary education and 13 (1999) on the right to education. See Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter of the United Nations; articles 2, para.1, and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which impose legally binding obligations with regard to international assistance and cooperation. Including, for example: the Declaration on the Right to Development (General Assembly resolution 41/128), United Nations Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2); the Doha Ministerial Declaration issued at the Fourth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, 2001; the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development; and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development issued at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Goal 8 of the Millennium Development Goals sets out the clear need for a global partnership to address the current inequities in the global trading system, the necessity of addressing the problem of debt and ensuring that advancements in technology and science benefit all countries. 15