PART TWO: CONTENT OF COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW This section discusses the development of these concepts and provides practical guidance for policymakers and civil society working towards the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation on what should be incorporated into such laws to ensure compliance with international human rights law. 1. Personal scope of the right to non-discrimination PART TWO – I The right to non-discrimination centres on protection from harm that arises in connection with a status, identity, characteristic or belief – collectively referred to as “grounds” of discrimination. 122 This section discusses these grounds, before turning to the different relationships between them and the ways in which people can be exposed to discrimination. (a) Proscribed grounds SUMMARY • Anti-discrimination legislation should prohibit discrimination on the basis of an extensive and openended list of characteristics. • Discrimination must be prohibited on the basis of age; birth; civil, family or carer status; colour; descent, including caste; disability; economic status; ethnicity; gender expression; gender identity; genetic or other predisposition towards illness; health status; indigenous origin; language; marital status; maternity or paternity status; migrant status; minority status; national origin; nationality; place of residence; political or other opinion; pregnancy; property; race; refugee or asylum status; religion or belief; sex; sex characteristics; sexual orientation; social origin; social situation; or any other status. • Discrimination should also be prohibited on the basis of such additional characteristics as require protection in a given society. • Anti-discrimination legislation should permit the inclusion of additional grounds of discrimination to those explicitly listed, by prohibiting discrimination arising on the basis of “any other status”. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the understanding of the grounds upon which discrimination should be prohibited has evolved. In particular, States and international bodies have recognized that the prohibition of discrimination on “any other ground” includes an extensive range of characteristics not explicitly listed in the earliest instruments. Among other things, a large number of grounds that were not explicitly listed in those instruments – including age, disability, gender identity, health status and sexual orientation (among others) – have been recognized as equivalent to those that were listed and so have been incorporated within the list of recognized protected grounds. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, states that everyone is entitled to the rights that it sets forth “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion [or belief],123 political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.124 The Universal Declaration served as a template for the prohibition of discrimination under articles 2 (1) and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 2 (2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 122 It should be noted that article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law and several national constitutions recognize a right to equal protection, which provide guarantees of equality that do not reference grounds of discrimination, allowing courts to take an expansive approach to the question of protected characteristics. 123 While article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights uses the term “religion”, article 18 (on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) refers to “religion or belief”. Articles 2 (1) and 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights use similar language. In their commentary, human rights treaty bodies have made clear that the prohibition of discrimination applies on the basis of a person’s “religion or belief” (including, the non-profession of any religion or belief). This is made explicit on the face of article 1 (1) of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which uses the term “religion or conviction”. See, illustratively, Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 22 (1993), paras. 2, 10 and 11; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 22; and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 18. 124 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 2. 19