PART THREE: PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS SUMMARY • The realization of the rights of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities necessitates effective protection and fulfilment of the right to non-discrimination. As such, the enactment, enforcement and implementation of comprehensive anti-discrimination law is essential if States are to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of minorities. • The ban on discrimination inheres within minority rights. States must ensure that all aspects of the right to non-discrimination are effective in their efforts to guarantee minority rights. This includes ensuring that laws, policies and practices do not discriminate directly or indirectly against members of minority communities enjoying their culture, professing or practising their religion or using their language. It also includes ensuring measures to respect and secure the communal enjoyment of culture, the practise of religion and the use of language do not result in discrimination on the basis of gender, sex, sexual orientation or other grounds. PART THREE • The rights of minorities to non-discrimination and equality cannot be effectively realized without a broad range of minority rights guarantees being effective and realized in practice. These include recognition, genuine participation and consultation in all matters of relevance to the community. • Indigenous peoples enjoy explicit rights under international human rights law going beyond those set out as core requirements for minorities. I. MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE BAN ON DISCRIMINATION Comprehensive anti-discrimination law is a central, essential element in the realization of the human rights of minorities. The enactment and enforcement of such laws is a necessary – but not sufficient – condition for the enjoyment of minority rights; there are specific aspects of the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities that go beyond the scope and requirements of anti-discrimination law; equally, comprehensive antidiscrimination laws provide protection for all, not only for members of minority communities. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that minority rights cannot be realized in the absence of laws providing comprehensive and effective protection from discrimination. In its most recent resolution on the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, the Human Rights Council highlighted the link between the rights of minorities and the right to non-discrimination, emphasizing, inter alia: the need to strengthen efforts to meet the goal of the full realization of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, including by addressing their economic and social conditions and marginalization, and to end any type of discrimination against them, … … the importance of recognizing and addressing multiple, aggravated and intersecting forms of discrimination against persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and the compounded negative impact on the enjoyment of their rights,846 In diverse contexts and areas of life, treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, have called upon 846 Human Rights Council resolution 43/8, preamble. 123