PART ONE: STATE OBLIGATIONS TO ENACT COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW PART ONE has clarified that the elimination of “all forms of discrimination” under the Conventions necessitates the prohibition of intersectional discrimination.49 As such, the obligation to enact anti-discrimination legislation under these instruments is properly understood as requiring the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination law and the treaty bodies have made relevant recommendations to this effect.50 Since 2010, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has addressed recommendations for the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation to at least 12 States, including Belize, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Viet Nam, Zambia and the State of Palestine.51 For example, in 2018, the Committee recommended that Kyrgyzstan: “adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation that … [d]efines direct and indirect discrimination, includes all grounds of discrimination, and prohibits all forms of racial discrimination”.52 In its general recommendation No. 28 (2011), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that article 2 of the Convention established an obligation to “enact legislation that prohibits discrimination in all fields of women’s lives under the Convention”, clarifying that such legislation must prohibit both direct and indirect discrimination, apply to both public and private actors, provide for effective remedy and – crucially – “legally recognize such intersecting forms of discrimination … and prohibit them”.53 The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has also issued guidance on the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Reflecting the position developed by treaty bodies earlier, in its general comment No. 6 (2018), the Committee stated clearly that the Convention created an “obligation to enact specific and comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation”.54 The Committee went on to elaborate the personal and material scope of such legislation, the forms of prohibited conduct and the measures required to ensure the effective enforcement and implementation of the rights.55 The Committee situates this obligation as a necessary means to give effect to the inclusive model of equality, which it elaborates as follows: Inclusive equality is a new model of equality developed throughout the Convention. It embraces a substantive model of equality and extends and elaborates on the content of equality in: (a) a fair redistributive dimension to address socioeconomic disadvantages; (b) a recognition dimension to combat stigma, stereotyping, prejudice and violence and to recognize the dignity of human beings and their intersectionality; (c) a participative dimension to reaffirm the social nature of people as members of social groups and the full recognition of humanity through inclusion in society; and (d) an accommodating dimension to make space for difference as a matter of human dignity. The Convention is based on inclusive equality.56 In other areas of international law, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has repeatedly recommended the enactment of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. 57 Such law, according to the Committee, may be necessary to address persisting patterns of discrimination in employment even in those States in which constitutional equality guarantees, or non-discrimination provisions in general employment legislation, have already been adopted.58 49 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009), para. 7; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 18; and Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), paras. 19 and 21–22. 50 See, for instance, CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10, para. 11; CEDAW/C/KAZ/CO/5, para. 12 (a); and Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), para. 22. 51 CERD/C/BLZ/CO/1, para. 7; CERD/C/ISL/CO/19-20, para. 12; CERD/C/IRQ/CO/22-25, para. 10; CERD/C/ISR/CO/17-19, para. 12; CERD/C/KAZ/CO/6-7, para. 6; CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10, para. 11; CERD/C/LVA/CO/6-12, paras. 12–13; CERD/C/PAK/CO/21-23, paras. 9–10; CERD/C/RUS/CO/20-22, para. 7; CERD/C/RUS/CO/23-24, para. 9; CERD/C/VNM/CO/10-14, para. 7; CERD/C/ZMB/CO/17-19, paras. 11 (d) and 12 (b); CERD/C/PSE/CO/1-2, para. 12 (a). 52 CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10, para. 11. 53 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010), paras. 31 and 18. See also paras. 9–10, 13, 16–17, 32 and 34–36. 54 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), para. 22. 55 Ibid., paras. 12–73. 56 Ibid., para. 11. 57 ILO, “Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations”, Report III (Part 1A) (Geneva, 2009), para. 109. Available at www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09661/09661(2009-98-1A).pdf. 58 Ibid. 5