A/RES/66/140 6. Calls upon States and the international community to recognize the right to education on the basis of equal opportunity and non-discrimination by making primary education compulsory and available free to all children, and ensuring that all children have access to education of good quality, as well as making secondary education generally available and accessible to all, in particular through the progressive introduction of free education, bearing in mind that special measures to ensure equal access, including affirmative action, contribute to achieving equal opportunity and combating exclusion, and ensuring school attendance, in particular for girls and children from low-income families; Calls upon States, with the support of international organizations, civil 7. society and non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, to develop policies and programmes, giving priority to formal and informal education programmes, including age-appropriate sex education, with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, that support girls and enable them to acquire knowledge, develop self-esteem and take responsibility for their own lives, and to place special focus on programmes to educate women and men, especially parents, about the importance of girls’ physical and mental health and well-being, including the elimination of discrimination against girls in child and forced marriages; Calls upon all States and international and non-governmental 8. organizations, individually and collectively, to implement further the Beijing Platform for Action,12 in particular the strategic objectives relating to the girl child, and the further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 21 and to mobilize all necessary resources and support in order to achieve the goals and strategic objectives and actions set out in the Beijing Declaration11 and Platform for Action; 9. Calls upon all States to take measures to address the obstacles that continue to affect the achievement of the goals set forth in the Beijing Platform for Action, as contained in paragraph 33 of the further actions and initiatives, where appropriate, including the strengthening of national mechanisms to implement policies and programmes for the girl child and, in some cases, to enhance coordination among responsible institutions for the realization of the human rights of girls, as indicated in the further actions and initiatives; 10. Urges States to strengthen efforts to urgently eradicate all forms of discrimination against women and girls and, where applicable, to remain dedicated to the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto; 22 11. Also urges States to fulfil the pledges that they made at the Fourth World Conference on Women and at the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly to modify or abolish remaining laws that discriminate against women and girls; 12. Further urges States to improve the situation of girl children living in poverty, deprived of nutrition, water and sanitation facilities, with limited or no access to basic physical and mental health-care services, shelter, education, participation and protection, taking into account that, while a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human being, it is most threatening and harmful to the girl _______________ 21 22 6 Resolution S-23/3, annex. United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2131, No. 20378.