Non-Discrimination in International Law A HANDBOOK FOR P RACTITIONERS With the generous support of The Sigrid Rausing Trust STAFF BOARD Development (Africa); member of the African Commission on Helen Duffy Laura Cox DBE Human & Peoples’ Rights Legal Director Chair Judge of the High Court; Roberta Clarke John Musgrave Member of the ILO Committee (Trinidad & Tobago) Lawyer; Finance and Administration of Experts women’s rights specialist Director Jeremy McBride Dr Ewa Eliasz Iain Byrne Vice Chair (United Kingdom) Barrister; Commonwealth Law Officer Director, Human Rights Law & former adviser to Solidarity in Andrea Coomber Practice Programme, University Poland; Consultant on Eastern Legal Officer for Equality of Birmingham Europe Beth Fernandez Alan Goodman Roger Errera Programme Assistant for CEE / Treasurer (France) Conseiller D’Etat, Paris; Equality Former Management Member of the Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature Erica Ffrench Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers Programme Assistant for ED / Professor Yash P Ghai Commonwealth Chaloka Beyani (Kenya) Member of the English Bar; Professor of Law, Ibrahima Kane Lecturer in International Law and Human Rights, London School Universities of Warwick and Legal Officer for Africa of Economics and Political Hong Kong Kevin Kitching Science Asma Khadar Legal Officer for CEE Professor Christine Chinkin (Jordan) Minister of State and Juliet McDermott Professor of International Law, Government Spokesperson; Programme Assistant for ED / London School of Economics Lawyer Africa and Political Science Harold Koh Judith Oder Helena Cook (USA) Professor of International Legal Officer for Africa Deputy Director, Human Rights Law, Yale Law School Connie Rafferty Centre, London School of Monica Macovei Finance Manager Economics and Political Science (Romania) Member of Bucharest Bar; Professor of Law, School of Cathal Sheerin Tim Eicke Practising Barrister Journalism, Vice-President of Administrator the Helsinki Committee Moni Shrestha Geoffrey Lewis Former Partner, Herbert Smith Marek A Novicki Programme Assistant for LD / (Poland) Lawyer; Ombudsman in South Asia Dr Neville Linton Kosovo Consultant in Political Affairs; Vesselina Vandova Sonia Picado Legal Officer for CEE Former official, Commonwealth Secretariat (Costa Rica) Advocate, former Judge of the Inter-American William Norris Court Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC Practising Barrister Honorary President DJ Ravindran Senior Member of the English (India) Lawyer; founder of Forum Bar Asia; Deputy Director, Cambodia ADVISORY COUNCIL Office of the UN High Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed Commissioner for Human Rights (Pakistan) Judge of the High Mary Robinson Court of Sindh (Ireland) Former President of Shirin Aumeeruddy Cziffra Ireland and UN High (Mauritius) Human Rights Commissioner for Human Advocate, Barrister, Former Rights; Director of the Ethical Attorney General Globalization Initiative Florence Butegwa Suriya Wickremasinghe (Uganda) Advocate; co-founder (Sri Lanka) Barrister, Attorney- of Women in Law & at-Law 2 Non-Discrimination in International Law A HANDBOOK FOR P RACTITIONERS Edited by Kevin Kitching Published by INTERIGHTS The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights Lancaster House 33 Islington High Street London N1 9LH UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7278 3230 Fax: +44 (0)20 7278 4334 Email: [email protected] www.interights.org Designed/Typset by JSW Creative Ltd www.jswcreative.co.uk © INTERIGHTS January 2005 All rights reserved. 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ISBN 1-869940-32-6 4 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 14 PREFACE 15 USING THE HANDBOOK 16 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 17 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL DISCRIMINATION LAW 19 A CONCEPTS OF EQUALITY 19 B BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL DISCRIMINATION LAW 20 C STATE OBLIGATIONS: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DISCRIMINATION 22 1 Negative Obligations of the State 22 2 Positive Obligations of the State 23 2.1 The UN System 24 2.2 European Convention on Human Rights 25 2.3 The European Union 26 2.4 The Inter-American System 26 CHAPTER II AN OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL INSTRUMENTS 27 A ‘UNIVERSAL’ INSTRUMENTS 28 1 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 30 2 The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 32 3 The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 34 4 The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 36 5 The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 38 6 The International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 39 7 Other Relevant UN Conventions 42 7.1 The CAT and the Migrants Convention 42 7.2 UNESCO Convention on Discrimination in Education 43 B INSTRUMENTS OF REGIONAL BODIES 43 1 The Council of Europe System 44 5 1.1 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) 44 1.1.1 Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights 45 1.1.2 Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights 47 1.2 The European Social Charter 48 2 The European Union (EU) 51 2.1 Article 13 of the EC Treaty 53 2.2 Article 39 of the EC Treaty (Free movement of workers) 57 2.3 Article 141 of the EC Treaty (Sex discrimination) 58 2.4 Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union – the EU and Human Rights 61 3 THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS (AFCHPR) 63 4 THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (AMCHR) 66 CHAPTER III KEY LEGAL STANDARDS IN INTERNATIONAL DISCRIMINATION LAW 71 A DIRECT DISCRIMINATION 71 1 UN Treaty Bodies 72 2 European Convention on Human Rights 74 3 European Union 77 3.1 Article 13 Legislation 77 3.2 Article 39 and Nationality 77 3.3 Article 141 and Sex Discrimination 77 4 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 78 5 American Convention on Human Rights 79 B INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION 80 1 UN Treaty Bodies 82 2 European Convention on Human Rights 83 3 European Union 86 3.1 Article 13 Legislation 86 3.2 Article 39 and Nationality 87 3.3 Article 141 and Sex Discrimination 87 4 Indirect Discrimination in National Jurisdictions 89 C GENUINE OCCUPATION REQUIREMENTS 90 1 The European Union 91 D HARRASSMENT 92 E VICTIMISATION 94 F POSITIVE ACTION OR AFFIRMATIVE MEASURES 95 1 Introduction 95 2 Positive Action under International Instruments 97 2.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 97 2.2 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 98 2.3 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 98 2.4 International Labour Organization 98 2.5 European Convention on Human Rights 99 2.6 European Union 100 2.7 American Convention on Human Rights 102 3 Types of Positive Action Measures 103 3.1 Training and Support 103 6 3.2 Policy Impact Assessment 103 3.3 Mainstreaming 104 3.4 Setting of Targets 104 3.5 Targeted Recruitment 105 3.6 Preferential Treatment 105 3.7 Quotas 108 3.8 Positive Action Programmes 109 G REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION 110 1 Introduction 110 2 ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ in International and EU Law 111 2.1 The EU Framework Directive 111 2.2 Other International Mechanisms 112 3 Reasonable Accommodation in Domestic Law 113 3.1 Canada 113 3.2 The United States 113 3.3 Other Jurisdictions 114 CHAPTER IV PROCEDURE: MAKING A DISCRIMINATION CLAIM 115 A ELEMENTS OF A DISCRIMINATION CLAIM 115 1 The Basic Structure of a Discrimination Claim 115 2 Using a Comparator 116 2.1 Difficulties with Using Comparators 116 2.2 Alternatives to the Comparator: ‘Substantive Standards’ 118 3 Relevance of Intent 118 B THE BURDEN OF PROOF 119 1 UN System 120 2 European Convention on Human Rights 120 3 European Union 121 4 National Jurisdictions 121 C THE STANDARD OF PROOF 122 1 European Convention on Human Rights 123 2 Inter-American System 124 3 National Jurisdictions 124 D ESTABLISHING A PRIMA FACIE CASE 124 1 Difficulties in Proving Discrimination 125 2 Overcoming Problems of Proof 125 2.1 Drawing Inferences 126 2.2 Statistical inference 127 E JUSTIFICATION 128 1 Objective Justification and Proportionality 128 1.1 UN System 128 1.2 European Convention on Human Rights 129 1.3 European Union 130 1.4 Inter-American System 130 2 Suspect Classes 130 3 Common Justifications 131 3.1 Physical Safety and Capability 131 7 3.2 Economic or Market-based Justification 131 3.3 Freedom of Contract 132 3.4 Positive or Affirmative Action 133 F LIABILITY FOR DISCRIMINATION 133 G EFFECTIVE REMEDIES AND COMPENSATION 134 1 Criminal Sanctions 135 2 Financial Compensation 135 3 Court Ordered Performance 136 4 Consent Decrees 136 CHAPTER V GROUNDS OF DISCRIMINATION 137 A SEX / GENDER DISCRIMINATION 138 1 Introduction 138 2 General Principles under International Instruments 138 2.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 138 2.1.1 Citizenship and Immigration 139 2.1.2 Status and Identity 140 2.1.3 Tax and Social Security 140 2.1.4 Property Rights 141 2.2 International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights 141 2.3 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 142 2.4 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 142 2.5 Convention on the Rights of the Child 143 2.6 International Labour Organization 143 2.7 European Convention on Human Rights 143 2.7.1 Immigration 143