4.3.1.1 General UN treaties

The subject of gender equality is included in many international treaties. Both the UN and the EU have taken steps to eliminate gender inequalities.

In the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) (UDHR), the basic rights of humans are stipulated and in particular a non-discrimination clause is included which states that no distinction is allowed, for instance on the basis of sex.1 Article 7 of the UDHR refers to the non-discrimination principle that proclaims that all people are equal before the law and have the right to be equally protected by the law. Article 23 of the UDHR states that all people have a right to work.

Besides the UDHR, other treaties also aim to protect gender equality and ensure non-discrimination, such as the ICCPR (1966) and the ICESCR (1966). Article 3 of the ICCPR states that: ‘The State Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant’.

The same provision can be found in the ICESCR with regard to economic, social and cultural rights.2 Article 7 of the ICESCR elaborates that every person has the right to work and that everyone is entitled to have equal remuneration for work of: ‘equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work’.