PART SIX: PROMOTING DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY: OBLIGATIONS TO ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES OF DISCRIMINATION and requirements – within legislation – to combat prejudice and stigma and to counter stereotypes. These general requirements should be complemented by specific duties in the areas of public participation and representation, education, media, training and sensitization. These obligations should be integrated into and reflected within all other areas of the law establishing duties on State actors. Positive action programmes have an important role to play in tackling prejudice and stereotypes, in particular by enabling rapid progress towards equal representation in areas of public life. Legal provisions detailing positive action obligations should include explicit requirements to address the drivers of discrimination. Statutory equality duties should incorporate duties to identify the root causes and drivers of discrimination and to take effective action to address them, together with general duties to promote equal and diverse representation. Equality impact assessment should incorporate specific requirements to identify and eliminate the impacts of laws and policies that serve to engender, entrench or exacerbate prejudice, stereotypes or stigma. Elements of anti-discrimination laws focused on institutions should also integrate obligations to tackle prejudice, stereotypes and stigma. Enforcement bodies – whether courts or equality bodies – should be empowered to order societal remedies such as public apologies and memorials and institutional remedies such as training programmes. Equality bodies should have both a mandate and power to promote equality and non-discrimination and to counter social forces that undermine them. This should include specific powers to carry out educational, awareness-raising, training and sensitization programmes. Crucially, in addition to establishing duties and obligations to address prejudice, stereotypes and stigma, antidiscrimination laws should provide for enforcement action in situations in which the State fails to discharge such duties and to take measures that are appropriate, proportionate and effective. While States’ obligations in this area are proactive and should not arise only as a response or remedy to a complaint, the possibility of enforcement is key to ensuring the effectiveness of these duties. III. CONCLUSION: PROMOTING EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY States’ international treaty obligations commit them not simply to prohibiting discrimination in law, but to eliminating it in fact. Taking positive, proactive measures to tackle the root causes and drivers of discrimination are essential, indispensable elements of this obligation. This in turn requires a comprehensive programme of action, required and underpinned by enforceable duties and obligations within anti-discrimination laws, as detailed above. PART SIX Yet, if States are to fulfil their obligations and honour their commitments to eliminating discrimination and ensuring equality of participation, their efforts should rise above combating prejudice, stereotypes and stigma. The focus should be not only on countering negative social forces, but on actively promoting equal, diverse and inclusive societies. Efforts should be made to promote understanding between people and groups with different characteristics, statuses and beliefs and to demonstrate how more equal and diverse economies and societies benefit all. Indeed, this speaks to a more fundamental truth. Inevitably, the present guide has focused in large part on negative proscriptions – on States’ obligations to prohibit, prevent and enforce. These measures are absolutely necessary and essential if States are to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to nondiscrimination. However, the adoption of such laws represents not an end but a beginning. Ultimately, States will only realize the rights to equality and non-discrimination by adopting comprehensive anti-discrimination laws and using these laws as a platform, or foundation, for a system-wide effort to promote an equal, diverse and inclusive society. 201