PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation 7. Legislative, executive, judicial bodies at all levels and other public institutions shall be obliged to adopt and implement special measures to increase representation of underrepresented gender, until equal representation of women and men according to this Law is achieved. 8. Equal gender representation in all legislative, executive and judiciary bodies and other public institutions is achieved when ensured a minimum representation of fifty percent (50%) for each gender, including their governing and decision-making bodies. C. Equality duties Alongside ensuring the comprehensive and effective prohibition of all forms of discrimination and requiring and mandating positive action to address substantive inequalities, States have other, proactive duties to eliminate discrimination and ensure equality of participation. Notably, article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes a duty to ensure accessibility to the environment, transportation, services, facilities and information and communications for persons with disabilities. The adoption of this standard has led to growing understanding that obligations to ensure equality of access for persons exposed to discrimination on the basis of other grounds are inherent in the rights established by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among others. In a separate development, an increasing number of States have adopted statutory equality duties – a legal framework through which consideration of the rights to equality and non-discrimination is integrated into decision-making processes – as a means to ensure compliance with their international law obligations. 1. Accessibility SUMMARY • Accessibility is a proactive, systemic duty that requires the adoption and implementation of measures necessary to ensure equal access to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, to places of work, education and health care and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public. The State is obliged to ensure accessibility in all spheres of life. Failure to comply with accessibility standards is a form of prohibited conduct. It is an ex ante duty, which exists irrespective of an individual request for access; it is an unconditional duty, in that failure to comply cannot be excused by reference to the burden on the provider. • Anti-discrimination laws should establish duties on both State and private actors to identify and remove barriers that prevent equality of access. They should also establish a duty on the State to develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines on accessibility. • Failure to comply with accessibility standards is a form of discrimination and should therefore be prohibited under comprehensive anti-discrimination law. Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes a duty on States parties to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, and facilities and services open or provided to the public. Article 9 includes both a negative duty to identify and remove barriers that prevent equal access and a positive duty to proactively ensure accessibility. Article 9 (1) establishes that States have an obligation to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers in areas including, but not limited to, buildings, roads, transportation and other facilities, and information, communications and other services. Article 9 (2) requires that States take a range of proactive measures, including developing, promulgating and monitoring the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public and ensuring that “private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities”. 66