PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has noted that States should carry out “specific education and training programmes about the principles and provisions of the Convention directed to all Government agencies, public officials and, in particular, the legal profession and the judiciary”.1260 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has set out that “the State should conduct human rights education and training programmes for public officials and make such training available to judges and candidates for judicial appointments”.1261 As this statement indicates, it is particularly important that judges and advocates gain an understanding of the scope and content of international anti-discrimination law in order to avoid misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misapplication of the law.1262 In its general recommendation No. 36 (2000), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination provided detailed guidance on training obligations. It noted that: “Human rights education and training are vital to ensuring that police officers do not discriminate. National human rights institutions, in cooperation with civil society organizations, can play a central role in training law enforcement officials, in auditing new technological tools that could lead to discrimination and in identifying other risks in practice.”1263 Such training should ensure the engagement of “stigmatized groups, including those whose members experience intersecting forms of discrimination”.1264 Training should aim to “raise awareness among … officials about the impact of biases on their work and … demonstrate how to ensure non-discriminatory conduct”1265 and should be “regularly evaluated and updated to ensure that it has the desired impact”.1266 In its most recent resolution on the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, the Human Rights Council emphasized “the fundamental importance of human rights education, training and learning, dialogue, including intercultural and interfaith dialogue, and interaction among all relevant stakeholders and members of society relating to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities”.1267 According to the Council, these elements form “an integral part of the development of society as a whole”, ensuring “the sharing of best practices relating to, inter alia, the promotion of mutual understanding of minority issues, the management of diversity through the recognition of plural identities and the promotion of inclusive, just, tolerant and stable societies and of social cohesion”.1268 F. Enforcement and implementation As set out above, international human rights instruments set out clear obligations to tackle the root causes and drivers of discrimination. Both these instruments and the treaty bodies have elaborated a non-exhaustive list of policies and actions that States should implement in order to discharge these obligations, ranging from measures to strengthen representation and participation in public life to countering stereotypes and promoting equality through the education system. Meeting these obligations requires a comprehensive, system-wide response that goes beyond codifying duties into law. Nevertheless, States must ensure that anti-discrimination law both requires and provides for the adoption and implementation of such measures. At a minimum, this requires setting out enforceable obligations 200 1260 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 38 (d). 1261 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 38. 1262 In one particularly fraught case, multiple judicial and quasi-judicial instances could not decide whether a case concerned discrimination on grounds of nationality or “personal situation” or whether the claim concerned direct or indirect discrimination (Court of Justice of the European Union, CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v. Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia, Case C-83/14, Judgment, 16 July 2015). The case was finally deemed by the Court of Justice of the European Union to be discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin. It deferred to the national court to determine whether the discrimination at issue was direct or indirect. 1263 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 36 (2020), para. 45. 1264 Ibid., para. 42. 1265 Ibid. 1266 Ibid. In the same recommendation, the Committee also made recommendations regarding training and human rights education in the area of artificial intelligence and algorithmic discrimination. Ibid., paras. 43–45. 1267 Human Rights Council resolution 43/8, preamble. 1268 Ibid.