Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ETS No. 177) is an anti-discrimination treaty of the Council of Europe. It was adopted on November 4, 2000, in Rome and entered into force on April 1, 2005, after tenth ratification. As of 2023, it has been ratified by 20 States [1] (of the 46 CoE member states).
Article 1 – General prohibition of discrimination. 1 The enjoyment of any right set forth by law shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. 2 No one shall be discriminated against by any public authority on any ground such as those mentioned in paragraph 1.
Unlike Article 14 of the Convention itself, the prohibition of discrimination in Protocol 12 is not limited to enjoying only those rights provided by the Convention.
The first case, where the European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12, was Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, adjudicated in 2009.
