E/CN.4/2004/76 page 7 16. According to the information received by the Special Rapporteur, migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to abuses and violations of their rights.6 The Special Rapporteur discusses their situation below in the light of international human rights obligations and the factors that contribute to their vulnerability. B. The human rights of migrant domestic workers in the light of the principal international human rights instruments 17. The starting point should be the reminder that all individuals enjoy fundamental human rights because they are human beings. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges this principle in its article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (author’s italics). 18. The same principle is acknowledged in article 2.1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 15 specifies that the general rule is that each one of the rights of the Covenant must be guaranteed without discrimination between citizens and aliens. 19. Article 4 of the Covenant acknowledges as rights from which no derogation may be made and that States must guarantee to all persons under their jurisdiction, even in time of public emergency: the right to life; the right to humane treatment; freedom from slavery; the right not to be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation; the right not to be sentenced for any act or omission which, at the time when it was committed, was not criminal according to national or international law; the right of every human being to recognition as a person before the law; and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It can accordingly be asserted that migrant domestic workers enjoy these rights irrespective of their migratory situation.7 20. In addition to the rights mentioned above from which no derogation may be made, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work recognize other rights of particular relevance to the situation of migrant domestic workers. Particular examples of these are: the principle of equality before the law, the prohibition on arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence, freedom of movement, and freedom of association or trade union freedom. According to the ILO Declaration, the members of the Organization have committed themselves to the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. 21. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stipulates in article 2.1 that “The State Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant 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” (author’s italics). Article 2.3, however, stipulates that “Developing countries, with due regard to human rights and their national economy, may