Race and Ethnicity

UNCCPR General Comment 17: Rights of the child (Article 24)

The Comment calls attention to and clarifies the rights of children, noting that they are granted special protections that go beyond those granted to adults. Children are protected from discrimination on grounds such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth. Children also have a right to family and State protection. The Comment points to certain provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that apply greater protection to minors.

The Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European Union

This report examines the situation of Roma in Europe, focusing on their access to education, employment, health, social welfare benefits and housing. The report also addresses the particular disadvantages experienced by Romani women and the traveller community and includes research findings that were conducted over a period of 10 months in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

European Convention on Nationality

This convention lays down rules and principles relating to the nationality of natural persons. Article 5 of the Convention prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, religion, race, colour, national or ethnic origin in the rules governing nationality. It also prohibits discrimination between people who have acquired nationality upon birth and those whose have acquired nationality subsequently.

UN Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals who are not Nationals of the Country in which They Live

This declaration guarantees aliens living in the territory of a state several civil and political rights and the right to decent conditions at the workplace. Article 7 prohibits the individual or collective expulsion of aliens on the grounds of colour, culture, descent, national or ethnic origin, race and religion. It was adopted by General Assembly resolution 40/144 of 13 December 1985.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities

This declaration requires states to protect the existence and identities of minorities. It also calls upon states to encourage the promotion of national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identities. Under Article 2(1) of this declaration, minorities shall have the right to practice their religion, enjoy their culture and use their own language in both public and private settings without any kind of discrimination.

Council of Europe - Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter Providing for a System of Collective Complaints

This protocol provides for a collective complaint mechanism under which certain kinds of organizations specified in Article 1 or national organizations specified in Article 2 of this additional protocol can file complaints against state parties to the protocol for non-compliance with the provisions of the Charter. It may be noted that unlike the European Court of Human Rights, individuals cannot file complaints. The Committee of Independent Experts, who is responsible for examining each complaint and deciding on its merits, considers the complaints.

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