E/C.12/GC/18 page 6 need to protect children from economic exploitation, to enable them to pursue their full development and acquire technical and vocational education as indicated in article 6, paragraph 2. The Committee also recalls its general comment No. 13 (1999), in particular the definition of technical and vocational education (paras. 15 and 16) as a component of general education. Several international human rights instruments adopted after the ICESCR, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, expressly recognize the need to protect children and young people against any form of economic exploitation or forced labour.7 Older persons and the right to work 16. The Committee recalls its general comment No. 6 (1995) on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons and in particular the need to take measures to prevent discrimination on grounds of age in employment and occupation.8 Persons with disabilities and the right to work 17. The Committee recalls the principle of non-discrimination in access to employment by persons with disabilities enunciated in its general comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities. “The ‘right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts’ is not realized where the only real opportunity open to disabled workers is to work in so-called ‘sheltered’ facilities under substandard conditions.”9 States parties must take measures enabling persons with disabilities to secure and retain appropriate employment and to progress in their occupational field, thus facilitating their integration or reintegration into society.10 Migrant workers and the right to work 18. The principle of non-discrimination as set out in article 2.2 of the Covenant and in article 7 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families should apply in relation to employment opportunities for migrant workers and their families. In this regard the Committee underlines the need for national plans of action to be devised to respect and promote such principles by all appropriate measures, legislative or otherwise. III. STATES PARTIES’ OBLIGATIONS General legal obligations 19. The principal obligation of States parties is to ensure the progressive realization of the exercise of the right to work. States parties must therefore adopt, as quickly as possible, measures aiming at achieving full employment. While the Covenant provides for progressive realization and acknowledges the constraints due to the limits of available resources, it also imposes on States parties various obligations which are of immediate effect.11 States parties have immediate obligations in relation to the right to work, such as the obligation to “guarantee” that it will be exercised “without discrimination of any kind” (art. 2, para. 2) and the obligation “to take steps” (art. 2, para. 1) towards the full realization of article 6.12 Such steps must be deliberate, concrete and targeted towards the full realization of the right to work.