UNITED
NATIONS
E
Economic and Social
Council
Distr.
GENERAL
E/C.12/GC/20
2 July 2009
Original: ENGLISH
COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Forty-second session
Geneva, 4-22 May 2009
Agenda item 3
GENERAL COMMENT No. 20
Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
I. INTRODUCTION AND BASIC PREMISES
1.
Discrimination undermines the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights for a
significant proportion of the world’s population. Economic growth has not, in itself, led to
sustainable development, and individuals and groups of individuals continue to face
socio-economic inequality, often because of entrenched historical and contemporary forms of
discrimination.
2.
Non-discrimination and equality are fundamental components of international human
rights law and essential to the exercise and enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
Article 2, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(the Covenant) obliges each State party “to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present
Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.
3.
The principles of non-discrimination and equality are recognized throughout the Covenant.
The preamble stresses the “equal and inalienable rights of all” and the Covenant expressly
recognizes the rights of “everyone” to the various Covenant rights such as, inter alia, the right to
work, just and favourable conditions of work, trade union freedoms, social security, an adequate
standard of living, health and education and participation in cultural life.
GE.09-43405 (E) 090709