| International Human Rights Law concerning this form of discrimination. |
Here is what some of the international laws say about this particular kind of discrimination - unequal access and participation in government:
- 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948)
- Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
- Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
- Article 20.
- (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
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- 2. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (21 December 1965)
- Article 5. 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, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights:
- (d) Other civil rights, in particular:
- (viii) The right to freedom of opinion and expression;
- (ix) The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
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- 3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (16 December 1966)
- Article 19.
- 1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
- 2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
- Article 21. The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
- Article 22.
- 1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
- 2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on members of the armed forces and of the police in their exercise of this right.
- 3. Nothing in this article shall authorize States Parties to the International Labour Organisation Convention of 1948 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize to take legislative measures which would prejudice, or to apply the law in such a manner as to prejudice, the guarantees provided for in that Convention.
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- 4. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (16 December 1966)
* NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS COVENANT * |
- 5. International Covenant on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (18 July 1976)
- Article II.
- c. Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
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