Statement by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the launch of the OHCHR-Equal Rights Trust Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Law Guide

One day, Sevda Nedkova Nanova walked into a store in Sofia, Bulgaria.

She was looking to buy some socks.

But the shopkeeper refused to serve her; she was insulted and forced to leave the shop.

In July 2004, the court in Sofia issued the first decision under Bulgaria’s new comprehensive anti-discrimination law.

It ordered the company to pay damages to Ms. Nanova, finding she had been subjected to discrimination.

The decision sent a strong message that discrimination was unlawful and that victims of discrimination could access justice and secure remedy.

Ms. Nanova's story reminds us of the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, when she spoke of the application of human rights in the "small places". Roosevelt was articulating the idea that human rights are found in our neighbourhoods, schools, offices, and stores. The places where each of us should be treated with dignity and without discrimination.

Ms. Nanova and thousands of others like her have been able to seek and secure equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity after Bulgaria passed comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. The same is true in the dozens of other States that have enacted these laws.

These laws, whether led by civil society or governments, illustrate that we cannot eradicate discrimination unless comprehensive and effective equality laws are enacted, enforced, and implemented.

These laws provide a foundation for States to realise their ambition to be inclusive and to forge societies where everyone is equal in dignity and rights.

Next year, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its guarantee of equality in dignity and rights. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities, which recognises equality and non-discrimination as central to the protection of minorities.

As the Secretary-General noted in the Our Common Agenda report last year, racism, intolerance, and discrimination continue to exist in all societies.

Although many UN Member States have passed comprehensive anti-discrimination laws in the past few years, many have yet to do so.

I call on them to renew and reinforce their commitments to the equal enjoyment of human rights through enacting, enforcing, and implementing comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation.

To support their efforts, my Office has issued new guidance: Protecting Minority Rights: A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation.

This new Guide provides comprehensive guidance on how States can comply with their obligations to protect and fulfil the right to non-discrimination.

While the adoption of a law alone will not eliminate discrimination, it is a necessary and essential step.

There is much more that needs to be done to ensure a free and just world, as promised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Adopting comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation has long been overdue.

To ensure that everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, age, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation or gender identity, is treated equally in schools, neighbourhoods, offices, and stores.