II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

13. Particular attention should be given to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against minorities, including on the basis of sex, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. Intersectional discrimination deepens and complicates the impact of the denial of access to jobs, housing and other economic rights, making it more difficult to identify sustainable solutions. Minority women in rural or remote areas in some countries must cope with a profound isolation created by boundaries of the home, lack of education and language barriers. Their workload is made heavier by the lack of basic amenities such as clean water and sanitation, cheap and clean cooking fuels, the availability of child-care support, and protection against domestic and societal violence. Entrenched gender roles leave women highly vulnerable, particularly with regard to ownership of land or property, inheritance rights and access to credit, technology or markets.

III. RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Governments

16. Governments should eliminate de jure and de facto discrimination affecting participation in economic life for minorities. Measures must be taken to eliminate discrimination against minorities in both the public and private sectors, including in the key fields of employment and labour rights, financial services, education and training, productivity-enhancing technologies, social security, land tenure and property rights. Governments should recognize and address multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against minorities, including on the basis of sex, age, sexual orientation and gender identity or disability and their compounded negative impact on the women and other groups concerned.

D. Trade unions

51. Trade unions should survey union members to identify issues of discrimination on the basis of minority identity, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination on the basis of sex, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, that have affected equal access to employment and labour rights. Trade unions should establish task forces to develop plans of action to eradicate labour practices that discriminate against minorities.

Link to full text of the report: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/16session/A-HRC-16-46.pdf