PART TWO: CONTENT OF COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW PART TWO – V policies, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recommended to States that “economic policies such as budgetary allocations and measures to stimulate economic growth” should be designed such that they ensure the effective enjoyment of rights without discrimination.807 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has noted that States should ensure that measures designed to eliminate discrimination are “linked to mainstream governmental budgetary processes in order to ensure that all aspects of the policy are adequately funded”.808 Under the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, States are required to “take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes”.809 While States parties have “a great deal of flexibility” in the development of policies,810 a State must “be able to justify the appropriateness of the particular means it has chosen and demonstrate whether it will achieve the intended effect and result”.811 There is, therefore, a requirement to ensure that measures are effective, and the process for the development of equality plans and strategies and implementation should be consultative and participatory.812 B. Equality impact assessment While not explicitly required by international human rights instruments, equality impact assessment is increasingly understood as an essential tool in the elimination of discrimination813 and thus a necessary means for States to discharge their international law obligations. Equality impact assessment involves a preemptive, consultative and data-driven assessment of a law, policy or decision 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. Thus, the obligation to carry out equality impact assessment forms part of States’ duty to respect the right to non-discrimination by refraining from discrimination in law, policy and practice. In practice, however, equality impact assessment can also have a broader range of positive impacts, by allowing States to identify and adopt policy responses that remove structural barriers to equal participation and promote equality more broadly. The use of human rights impact assessment has grown in recent years and human rights bodies have recommended its application in diverse areas, including in respect of the environment, business,814 and the rights of indigenous peoples815 and children.816 In a recent report, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance identified the specific use of equality impact assessment as a “prerequisite” for the design of digital technologies.817 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes, under article 4, a requirement for States parties to “take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes”.818 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has noted that, in order to meet their obligations under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, States “must immediately assess the de jure and de facto situation of women and take concrete steps to formulate and implement a policy” to eliminate discrimination.819 In its general comment No. 20 (2009), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights repeatedly references States’ obligations to ensure 807 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 38. 808 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 28. 809 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4 (1) (c). 810 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 23. 811 Ibid. 812 Ibid., paras. 27–28; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4 (3); and Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), para. 73 (j). 813 See, for example, A/HRC/44/57, para. 56; and A/75/258, para. 89. 814 See, for instance, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 24 (2017), para. 13. 815 Ibid., para. 17. 816 See, for instance, Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 5 (2003), para. 45; and general comment No. 14 (2013), para. 99. 817 A/HRC/44/57, para. 56. 818 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4 (1) (c). 819 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 24. 117