ABSTRACT
Neither "equality" nor "nondiscrimination," however, is self-defining and beyond the need for interpretation, and none of these admonitions in the Covenant provides guidance as to the scope and implication of these norms. In fact, the content and reach of the principles of equality and nondiscrimination are not agreed; in the national law of several countries, similar constitutional provisions have spawned an extensive and complex jurisprudence. The principles of equality and nondiscrimination are now widely acknowledged as forming part of international customary law. Equality is decreed also in the requirement of equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, in equal access to public service and suffra. It has been stressed that the Covenant provides not merely for formal equality in the eyes of the law or before the courts, but also establishes the equal protection of the law and nondiscrimination in fact. Members of the Committee have frequently referred to the principles of equality and nondiscrimination in this.
