PART TWO: CONTENT OF COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW V. IMPLEMENTATION OBLIGATIONS SUMMARY • Equality impact assessment is an essential tool in the implementation and enforcement of the right to non-discrimination. PART TWO – V • Equality impact assessment requires pre-emptive, consultative and data-driven assessments of laws, policies and decisions in order to ensure that they do not discriminate directly or indirectly and to identify how the particular needs of discriminated persons and groups may be accommodated and advanced. • To be effective, impact assessment must take place before a policy is introduced and be carried out in consultation with members of any potentially affected communities in all their diversity. The results of the assessment should be made public and result in meaningful policy changes. Each of the core United Nations human rights treaties requires States to take the steps necessary to give effect to the rights that they protect, including the right to non-discrimination.795 States parties to both the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, for example, commit to “pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating” discrimination.796 Thus, alongside the removal of discriminatory laws and policies, and the establishment and enforcement of a protective legal framework, international law requires the adoption of proactive measures for the implementation of the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Implementation measures form part of a comprehensive programme of action, which includes positive action, designed to eliminate discrimination and achieve equality in practice.797 As discussed elsewhere in the present guide, implementation measures may be overseen by independent equality bodies and may be realized through the adoption of statutory equality duties.798 A clear consensus can be identified from the practice and comments of the human rights treaty bodies on the existence of discrete implementation obligations, derived from the overarching obligation to ensure the effectiveness of the right to non-discrimination and to make progress towards equality. As set out in section I.B of part one of the present guide, States have an immediate obligation to repeal or amend laws, policies and practices that discriminate and to ensure comprehensive and effective protection from discrimination.799 Beyond these obligations, States’ implementation obligations include: • The obligation to combat prejudice and to advance the celebration of human diversity. This obligation – which should be codified in anti-discrimination legislation but which requires a much wider range of activity than can be achieved through law alone – is discussed in part six of the present guide. • The obligation to develop and implement equality policies and strategies. • The obligation to use equality impact assessment. • The obligation to monitor equality by collecting, analysing and publishing disaggregated data. 795 See, for instance, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 2; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 2; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4; and Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 2. 796 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 2; and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2. 797 See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 36. 798 See section I.C.2 of part two of the present guide. 799 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 2 (1) (c); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2; and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4 (1) (b). 115