A/HRC/44/57 equality and non-discrimination are codified in all core human rights treaties. 104 Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also prohibits discrimination on these grounds. 105 47. Article 1 (1) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. The Convention aims at much more than a formal vision of equality. Equality in the international human rights framework is substantive and requires States to take action to combat intentional or purposeful racial discrimination, as well as to combat de facto, unintentional or indirect racial discrimination. 106 48. States must deploy a structural understanding of the prohibition on racial discrimination in line with international human rights law in the context of emerging digital technologies. Human rights law definitions must be employed in the vital function of shaping how States determine the meaning of racial discrimination produced through certain uses of emerging digital technologies, and States should require that these definitions inform the approaches of the private sector. This means that they must address not only explicit racism and intolerance in the use and design of emerging digital technologies, but also, and just as seriously, indirect and structural forms of racial discrimination that result from the design and use of such technologies. Obligations to combat racial discrimination extend to the racially discriminatory structures and other forms of direct and indirect discrimination described in part III above. States must reject a “colour-blind” approach to governance and regulation of emerging digital technologies, one that ignores the specific marginalization of racial and ethnic minorities and conceptualizes problems and solutions relating to such technologies without accounting for their likely effects on these groups. 49. Recalling paragraphs 92 to 98 of the Durban Programme of Action, the Special Rapporteur urges States to collect, compile, analyse, disseminate and publish reliable statistical data disaggregated on racial or ethnic grounds, in order to address individual and group racial inequities associated with the design and use of emerging digital technologies. The Special Rapporteur urges States to adopt an approach to data grounded in human rights, by ensuring disaggregation, self-identification, transparency, privacy, participation and accountability in the collection and storage of data.107 Identifying and addressing direct and indirect forms of discrimination requires the collection of data (in compliance with human rights standards) capable of revealing the disparate impacts of emerging digital technologies. Yet many States fail to collect or require the collection of such data. In fact, some European Union countries prohibit the collection of disaggregated data that would allow for identification and remediation of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or race. 108 Such prohibitions bar these States’ fulfilment of their obligations to prevent and combat racial discrimination, and they should adopt reforms. An example of a recent positive development in this regard is the Race Disparity Audit of the United Kingdom.109 50. The elimination of racial discrimination, as mandated by international human rights law, requires an intersectional analysis. The following definition of intersectionality captures well its significance: 104 105 106 107 108 109 A/HRC/32/50, paras. 10–14. See art. 2 (2). Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009) on the meaning and scope of special measures in the Convention, paras. 6–7. See A/HRC/42/59. See https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/bigdata-discrimination-data-supported-decision-making. A/HRC/41/54/Add.2, paras. 16–19. 15