633 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: (a) The right to equal treatment before the tribunals and all other organs administering justice"
- "Migrant workers and their families shall have the right to equality with nationals of the State concerned before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against them or their rights and obligations in a suit of law, they shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law."
- "States Parties recognize that all persons are equal before and under the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law."
- "States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law."
- "Every person shall have the right of access to public property and services in strict equality of all persons before the law."
- "All peoples shall be equal; they shall enjoy the same respect and shall have the same rights. Nothing shall justify the domination of a people by another."
- "All persons are equal before the law. Consequently, they are entitled, without discrimination, to equal protection of the law."
- "All shall be equal before the law and shall be entitled, without any discrimination, to equal protection before the law."
- "Women and men are equal before the law and shall have the right to equal protection and benefit of the law."
- "While article 2 limits the scope of the rights to be protected against discrimination to those provided for in the Covenant, article 26 does not specify such limitations. That is to say, article 26 provides that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law without discrimination, and that the law shall guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any of the enumerated grounds. In the view of the Committee, article 26 does not merely duplicate the guarantee already provided for in article 2 but provides in itself an autonomous right. It prohibits discrimination in law or in fact in any field regulated and protected by public authorities. Article 26 is therefore concerned with the obligations imposed on States parties in regard to their legislation and the application thereof. Thus, when legislation is adopted by a State party, it must comply with the requirement of article 26 that its content should not be discriminatory. In other words, the application of the principle of non-discrimination contained in article 26 is not limited to those rights which are provided for in the Covenant."
- "Procedural laws or their application that make distinctions based on any of the criteria listed in article 2, paragraph 1 or article 26, or disregard the equal right of men and women, in accordance with article 3, to the enjoyment of the guarantees set forth in article 14 of the Covenant, not only violate the requirement of paragraph 1 of this provision that "all persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals," but may also amount to discrimination."
- "The right to equality before the courts and tribunals and to a fair trial is a key element of human rights protection and serves as a procedural means to safeguard the rule of law."
- "[T]he positive obligations on States Parties to ensure Covenant rights will only be fully discharged if individuals are protected by the State, not just against violations of Covenant rights by its agents, but also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights in so far as they are amenable to application between private persons and entities. There may be circumstances in which a failure to ensure Covenant rights as required by article 2 would give rise to violations by States Parties of those rights, as a result of States Parties' permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities."
- "Every human being has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law."
- "State Parties shall protect the right to equality before the law and equal protection by the law as a fundamental precondition for a just and democratic society."
- "Everyone is equal before the law."
- "At the beginning of the new century and millennium, we reaffirm our commitment to the promotion of democracy and its core values in our respective countries. In particular, we undertake to work with renewed determination to enforce the equality of all citizens before the law and the liberty of the individual."
- "We look forward to faster progress towards the return of refugees and displaced persons and the implementation of relevant international standards, particularly those related to equal treatment without regard to ethnicity, freedom of the media, and free and fair elections."
- "Every person who has the right of suffrage must be allowed to exercise his/her suffrage right in a nondiscriminatory manner on the basis of equal treatment before the law."
- "The framework also must provide requirements for election officials and law enforcement personnel to honor equal protection of the law and provide effective remedies in securing proper election campaign conditions."
- "In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid out in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone…the right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public."
- "To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas."
- "The electoral system can include a component that seeks to address previous imbalances in political representation through the use of quotas or reserved seats to promote the representation of, for example, women and minorities."
- "Specific measures which are necessary to accelerate or achieve de-facto equality of persons with disabilities shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of the present Convention."
- "States Parties recognize that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination, and in this regard shall take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by them of all human rights and fundamental freedoms."
- "A distinction or preference adopted by a state party to promote the social integration or personal development of persons with disabilities does not constitute discrimination provided that the distinction or preference does not in itself limit the right of persons with disabilities to equality and that individuals with disabilities are not forced to accept such distinction or preference."
- "Special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure such groups or individuals equal enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be deemed racial discrimination, provided, however, that such measures do not, as a consequence, lead to the maintenance of separate rights for different racial groups and that they shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved."
- "States parties shall, when the circumstances so warrant, take, in the social, economic, cultural and other fields, special and concrete measures to ensure the adequate development and protection of certain racial groups or individuals belonging to them, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. These measures shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been met."
- "The Parties undertake to adopt, where necessary, adequate measures in order to promote, in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life, full and effective equality between persons belonging to a national minority and those belonging to the majority. In this respect, they shall take due account of the specific conditions of the persons belonging to national minorities."
- "The Committee also wishes to point out that the principle of equality sometimes requires States parties to take affirmative action in order to diminish or eliminate conditions which cause or help to perpetuate discrimination prohibited by the Covenant. For example, in a State where the general conditions of a certain part of the population prevent or impair their enjoyment of human rights, the State should take specific action to correct those conditions. Such action may involve granting for a time to the part of the population concerned certain preferential treatment in specific matters as compared with the rest of the population. However, as long as such action is needed to correct discrimination in fact, it is a case of legitimate differentiation under the Covenant."
- "Best practices do not exclude reasonable quotas or preferences designed to ensure more equitable representation of women or minority groups."
- "Special rules guaranteeing national minorities reserved seats or providing for exceptions to the normal seat allocation criteria for parties representing national minorities (for instance, exemption from a quorum requirement) do not in principles run counter to equal suffrage."
- "Nothing in this Convention maybe interpreted as affecting in any way the legal provisions of States Parties concerning nationality, citizenship or naturalization, provided that such provisions do not discriminate against any particular nationality."
- "In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language."
- "States shall promote the full and equal participation of women in the political structures of their countries as a fundamental element in the promotion and exercise of a democratic culture."
- "The drawing of electoral boundaries and the method of allocating votes should not distort the distribution of voters or discriminate against any group, and should not exclude or restrict unreasonably the right of citizens to choose their representatives freely."
- "Equal suffrage also requires that every citizen's vote should have equal weight irrespective of distinctions such as race, color, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property birth or other status. Demarcation of election district boundaries therefore may not be drawn in ways that divide minority communities and thus reduce their voting power."
- "The basic principle in relation to delimitation of electoral districts is that it should be done fairly and should not have the effect of prejudicing the representation of any party or minority grouping."
- "In addition, electoral units must not be drawn on a discriminatory basis that dilutes the voting power of ethnic, national, racial, religious, or other groups."
- "Constituency delimitation…designed to dilute or discount the votes of particular individuals, groups or geographic areas are unacceptable in the light of the international norm of equality of suffrage."
- "The delimitation process should: be devoid of manipulation of electoral boundaries to favour particular groups or political interests."
- "The geographic boundaries of electoral districts should facilitate the equitable representation of national minorities."
- "in some cases, electoral districts may be purposely designed and drawn to ensure that minority groupings are represented."
- "Take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination against individuals or communities on the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all fields of civil, political, economic, social and cultural life, and to ensure the effective equality between believers and non-believers."
- "To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country."
- "Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities: c. to have access, under general conditions of equality, to the public service of his country."
- "Every citizen shall have the right of equal access to the public service of his country."
- "Everyone shall have the right and opportunity and in the State of which he is a citizen: (c) to have access, on general conditions of equality, to the public service of his country."
- "Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country."
- "Article 25 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example, provides that every citizen has the right, without discrimination, to take part in the conduct of public affairs, to be elected, and to have equal access to public service in his or her country."