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Summary: Report on the right to education in advance of the UN World Summit. More than 170 world leaders are expected to attend the summit in New York, in part to assess their progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. But despite their pledges five years ago to achieve universal primary education by 2015, more than 100 million children are still out of school. This new report documents the obstacles that deny children their right to education, including school fees, persistent discrimination, child labor, violence, and the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Drawn from Human Rights Watch investigations in more twenty countries around the world, the report documents: - How school fees and related costs of schooling (including books, uniforms and supplies) put education beyond the reach of many children, causing many children to drop out, start late, or never attend at all (Countries cited in the report: Burma, China, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Togo and Zambia); - The devastating effect of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, as children affected by HIV/AIDS are denied access to school, mistreated because of stigma, or are withdrawn from school to care for sick family members (Countries cited: India, Kenya, Russia, Togo, Zambia) - Discrimination against rural and indigenous children (Mexico, South Africa), internally displaced or migrant children (Colombia, Morocco, Spain, Sri Lanka), low-caste or religious/ethnic minorities (India, Israel); and children in detention (Brazil, Pakistan, the United States); - The impact of violence in and near schools, including sexual violence, harassment against sexual minorities, and the use of corporal punishment (Iraq, Kenya, South Africa, United States, Zambia); - How child labor severely limits children’s opportunities for education, keeping many children out of school entirely (Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, United States). HRW is using this report to urge all governments to take much stronger action to remove the obstacles that deny children access to school, and to urge donor countries to fulfill their existing pledges to provide long-term support for universal primary education. Access the report here.