A/HRC/31/56 48. Core international human rights treaties33 build upon the principle of the inherent dignity and equality of all persons, which is recalled in their respective preambles, and enshrine the rights to equality and non-discrimination of all persons, as well as the equal enjoyment of human rights for men and women. 49. In its general recommendation No. 29 (2002), on article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention (Descent), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination confirmed that the term “descent” did not solely refer to “race” and unequivocally established that descent-based discrimination “includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights”. 50. The Committee identified several factors that could indicate the existence of discrimination on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status in affected communities, including “inability or restricted ability to alter inherited status; socially enforced restrictions on marriage outside the community; private and public segregation, including in housing and education, access to public spaces, places of worship and public sources of food and water; limitation of freedom to renounce inherited occupations or degrading or hazardous work; subjection to debt bondage; subjection to dehumanizing discourses referring to pollution or untouchability; and generalized lack of respect for their human dignity and equality”. It also made specific recommendations, including in the areas of preventing hate speech in the media, administration of justice, political participation and the right to education. 51. In addition, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in its resolution 2000/4, established that discrimination based on work and descent was a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law, and requested Governments concerned to put in place all necessary constitutional, legislative and administrative measures, including affirmative action, to prohibit and redress that form of discrimination, as well as to criminally sanction all persons or entities within their jurisdictions who might have engaged in practices of discrimination on the basis of work and descent. 52. The draft United Nations principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent constitute a comprehensive framework to assist multiple stakeholders, including States, United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, in identifying caste-based discrimination and in implementing measures to combat such discrimination. The draft principles and guidelines formulate specific recommendations to States to develop and implement a legal framework explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on work and descent and establish plans of action to enforce the abolition of untouchability and segregation at the national and local levels. They also recommend that States conduct surveys and research on affected communities, and combat discrimination based on work and descent in multiple areas, including physical security, protection against violence, access to justice, equal political participation, employment, health, food, water, housing and education. 53. At the regional level, in 2013 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on caste-based discrimination, in which it called for the European Union to promote the draft United Nations principles and guidelines as a guiding framework for eliminating caste-based discrimination and to promote their endorsement by the Human Rights Council. It also called on the European Commission to recognize caste-based discrimination as a “distinct form of discrimination rooted in the social and/or religious context” which must be 33 www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx. 11