MINELRES: Sign the Declaration of Principles on Equality!

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Original sender: Equal Rights Trust <info@equalrightstrust.org>


SIGN THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON EQUALITY - 
THE NEW COVENANT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY!

In October 2008, The Equal Rights Trust (ERT), London-based independent
international organization, launched the Declaration of Principles on
Equality, adopted and signed by 128 prominent human rights and equality
advocates and experts, and subsequently endorsed by many individuals and
organisations from all over the world.

The purpose of the signature collecting campaign is to demonstrate
strong support for the Principles on equality as a basis for
legislative, policy and judicial decisions related to the right to
equality and non-discrimination.

The Declaration contains 27 principles which, while building on existing
human rights and equality law, establish a new paradigm on equality. The
most important features of the Declaration include: 

- defining equality as a basic human right, and construing it as
autonomous rather than subsidiary to any other right set forth by law,
fusing approaches from human rights law and equality law; 
- redefining positive action - departing from the concept of formal
equality and interpreting positive action (affirmative action) as
inherent to substantive equality rather than as an exception or a
temporary special measure;
- ensuring consistency in dealing with different types of
discrimination, across grounds and areas of activity; 
- helping stake holders in all nations to enshrine the right to equality
in a way that eliminates the gaps, inconsistencies and hierarchies of
current equality regulations;
- creating a basis, at the level of legal principle, for integrating the
two historically segregated notions of equality: identity-based equality
(non-discrimination on grounds of sex, race, religion, disability,
sexual orientation, etc.) and equality in terms of social class,
economic status, or income.

IF YOU WISH TO READ AND SIGN THE DECLARATION ONLINE GO TO:
http://www.equalrightstrust.org/endorse/index.htm


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