A/HRC/34/26 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 31/6, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that its next annual study on the rights of persons with disabilities focus on article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in consultation with States parties and other relevant stakeholders, regional organizations, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and national human rights institutions. The Council also requested OHCHR to require that contributions be submitted in an accessible format and be made available together with the report in an easy-to-read-version on the OHCHR website prior to the thirty-fourth session of the Council. 2. Pursuant to the request of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR solicited contributions and received 27 responses from States parties, 15 from national human rights institutions and 29 from civil society organizations and other stakeholders. 1 The present study focuses on equality and non-discrimination in relation to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. II. Equality and non-discrimination under international law A. Equality 3. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities brings about several innovations that take the notions of equality and non-discrimination forward in the field of international human rights law. All of its provisions inform a strengthened vision of substantive equality, including in its mandate to eliminate discrimination, and also in the private sector. 4. Equality constitutes a fundamental and underlying principle of the notion of human rights, together with human dignity and universality. As stated in article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Hence, every human person is of equal worth and should be afforded equal rights by States. Equality can also be conceived in terms of societal goals, whereby States are obligated to develop policies and actions to ensure that the value of equality is reflected in the concrete living conditions of all persons. 5. Equality is complemented by the principle of non-discrimination, which underlies all human rights treaties and seeks to prevent any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference that nullifies or impairs the equal recognition and exercise of rights on different grounds such as race, ethnicity, gender and nationality, among others, without any objective justification. While State actions based on the principle and towards the goal of equality are ongoing and develop progressively, the principle of non-discrimination provides for immediate obligations. The application of this principle has not been subject to any condition for other constituencies. In practice, however, persons with disabilities are still subjected to encompassing conditions that undermine the principle of non-discrimination as applicable to them; for example, no woman may be deprived of her liberty on the basis of 1 The submissions received by the Office of the High Commissioner are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/Pages/EqualityAndNonDiscrimination.aspx. 3