PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation A. Access to justice and legal procedure To ensure effective remedy, States must guarantee and ensure access to justice for victims of discrimination. This duty is well established in international law629 and is made explicit in article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires States parties to “ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others”. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has affirmed that access to justice is “essential to the realization of all the rights under the Convention”.630 Other treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Committees, have recognized the duty to ensure access to justice as an implicit requirement of their founding rights instruments.631 1. Requirements of access to justice In 2015, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued its general recommendation No. 33, in which it identified six interrelated and essential components necessary to ensure access to justice.632 These components are: justiciability, availability, accessibility, good quality, provision of remedies for victims and accountability of justice systems.633 While differences in prevailing legal, social, cultural, political and economic conditions will necessitate a differentiated application of these features in the national context, the basic elements of the approach are of universal relevance and of immediate application to comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. (a) Availability and justiciability Effective enforcement of the right to non-discrimination requires the adoption of judicial and administrative mechanisms to ensure that all individuals are able to legally enforce their rights. 634 Courts, tribunals, ombudspersons and national human rights institutions have all – in one State or another, and to a greater or lesser extent – assumed responsibility for enforcement.635 As discussed further in section IV.C.3 of part two of the present guide, in some countries, specialized equality bodies have also been granted enforcement powers as part of their institutional mandate.636 Whatever form such institutions take, they must be effective in ensuring access to justice. Bodies charged with the enforcement of the rights to equality and non-discrimination must be affordable, adequately maintained and well funded.637 These bodies should be established throughout the State, in urban, rural and remote areas, and be made available to all persons.638 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stressed that enjoyment of the right to non-discrimination “should not be [made] conditional on, or determined by, a person’s current or former place of residence”.639 This applies, inter alia, 88 629 See, for instance, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), paras. 31 (b) and 73 (h); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015), para. 1; E/C.12/NPL/CO/3, para. 11 (f); CCPR/C/SVK/CO/4, para. 11; and CERD/C/POL/CO/22-24, para. 8 (b). 630 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015), para. 1. 631 See, respectively, and in varying contexts, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 31 (2005), paras. 6–9; Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 32 (2007), para. 11; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 24 (2017), paras. 40 and 51–52. Most frequently, access to justice is discussed by the Committees in the context of remedy, which is discussed in chapter II of part two of the present guide. 632 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015), para. 14. 633 Ibid. For the discussion of remedy see chapter II of part two of the present guide. 634 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015), para. 14 (a). See also International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (3) (b); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 6; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women art. 2 (c); Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), para. 73 (h); Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31 (2004), para. 15; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 40. 635 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 40. 636 See section IV.C.3 of part two of the present guide. For a discussion on the role of such bodies in ensuring access to justice in the European context, see European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Access to Justice in Cases of Discrimination in the EU: Steps to Further Equality (Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union, 2012). 637 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015), para. 14 (b). 638 Ibid., para. 16 (a). 639 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 34.