ABSTRACT
Humanity is as diverse as the number of persons who have ever lived: each individual is unique in attributes and potential, goals and abilities. Human rights law recognizes and celebrates this diversity by aiming to ensure the conditions necessary for each person to exercise individual self-determination in realizing her or his goals and potential as fully as possible consistent with other persons' self-fulfillment. This chapter attempts to assess how the prohibition of discrimination is understood in contemporary international human rights law. It begins by surveying the provisions of human rights instruments that call for non-discrimination and equality. The chapter examines the jurisprudence of international tribunals and monitoring bodies, including judgments, advisory opinions, general comments, and observations on state periodic reports. The conclusion attempts to draw from this body of law a general approach to discrimination in international human rights law.
