54 PROMOTING AND PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS The protection of certain minority or marginalized persons or populations especially at risk of torture is a part of the obligation to prevent torture or ill-treatment. States parties must ensure that, insofar as the obligations arising under the Convention are concerned, their laws are in practice applied to all persons. States parties should, therefore, ensure the protection of members of groups especially at risk of being tortured, by fully prosecuting and punishing all acts of violence and abuse against them and ensuring implementation of other positive measures of prevention and protection. Also key to preventing such violations and building a culture of respect for minorities is the elimination of employment discrimination and provision of awareness training on an ongoing basis in contexts where torture or ill-treatment is likely to be committed. States parties are encouraged to promote the hiring of persons belonging to minority groups, particularly in the medical, educational, prison and detention, law enforcement, judicial and legal fields, within State institutions as well as the private sector. Under the principle of non-discrimination as set out in the Convention, members of minorities have the same right as anyone else to be protected against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. This is an absolute right that cannot be derogated from under any circumstances, including war. Under article 20, if the Committee receives reliable information which appears to it to contain wellfounded indications that torture is being systematically practised in the territory of a State party, the Committee may, after inviting the State to cooperate in the examination of the information, make a confidential inquiry, which might include a visit to the country. However, some States parties have not recognized this competence of the Committee. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention and its Optional Protocol entered into force in 2008. Their aim is to elaborate in detail the rights of persons with disabilities and set out a code of implementation. Article 1 states that the Convention aims at promoting, protecting and ensuring “the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity”. Article 4 requires that States which ratify the Convention undertake to develop and carry out policies, laws and administrative measures for securing the rights recognized in the Convention and abolish laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination. Article 24.3(b) specifically requires States parties to facilitate the learning of sign language and promote the linguistic identity of the deaf community. Article 30.4 states that persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture. The Convention is the first United Nations human rights treaty to contain certain important concepts which relate to non-discrimination. One is the concept of “reasonable accommodation”, which concerns the modifications and adjustments needed to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families entered into force in 2003. It does not create new rights for migrants but aims at