prohibition of discrimination
Modern constitutions as well as universal and regional international human rights conventions, including European ones, also protect equality of rights, which is typically violated by discrimination on some grounds, by explicitly prohibiting discrimination. prohibition of discrimination is therefore a means of enforcing and a guarantee of formal equality of rights. National and international legislators list the human characteristics on the basis of which discrimination against individuals is prohibited. The range of so-called protected characteristics thus defined has been steadily extended in the wake of historical manifestations of discrimination. The list now usually includes discrimination on the grounds of colour, sex, national or ethnic origin, descent, religious belief, political opinion, birth, property or social status, and, more recently, sexual orientation. However, international conventions and national constitutions usually include a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of “other status”, opening the way to extending the list in legislation and in the application of the law. The level of the prohibition of discrimination and thus of equal rights protection in Hungary is significantly determined by the country’s various international obligations. The universal human rights conventions of both the UN and the Council of Europe after the Second World War declare that the rights they enshrine shall be enjoyed by all without discrimination. Of these the European Convention on Human Rights, whose implementation is ultimately ensured by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, is of paramount importance. Hungary is also bound by a number of other international conventions that have been adopted to combat specific aspects of discrimination, such as discrimination against women, children, disabled people and acts of racist motivation. The general non-discrimination rule of EU law which prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality is also an integral part of the legal order of Hungary as a member of the European Union.