Integrating Human Rights in the Anti-Corruption Agenda - The ICHRP

Box 2. The Principle of Non-Discrimination in Human Rights Law
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
“States Parties... undertake to guarantee that... rights... will be exercised without
discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.... The States
Parties… undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment
of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant.” (ICESR,
Arts. 2 and 3.)
These articles are further developed in General Comments adopted by the Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in particular General Comment No.
16 (2005) on The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of economic, social
and cultural rights (Art. 3); and General Comment No. 3 (1990) on The nature of the
obligations of the States Parties (Art. 2(1)).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
“Each State Party... undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals... rights...
without distinction of any kind... to ensure the equal right of men and women to the
enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.... All persons
shall be equal before the courts.... Every child shall have, without any discrimination
as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth,
the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor....
All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the
equal protection of the law.... The law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to
all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground..... In
those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging
to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members
of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or
to use their own language.” (ICCPR, Arts. 2, 3, 14, 24, 26 and 27.)
See also General Comments adopted by the Human Rights Committee (HRC), in
particular General Comment No. 28 (2000) on Equality of rights between men and
women and General Comment No. 18 (1989) on Non-discrimination.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW)
Since the entire Convention deals with discrimination, it is impractical to reproduce it entirely.
However, Article 1 defines the term “discrimination against women” to mean “any distinction,
exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing
or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital
status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms
in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”
Integrating Human Rights in the Anti-Corruption Agenda: Challenges, Possibilities and Opportunities