Page 147 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

information that healthcare professionals must preserve by always respecting the exercise of

personal freedom and the right to choose.

4.7 The Principle of Nondiscrimination

Basic rights also refer to the ethical imperative of equal treatment of all people before the law and
social institutions.

Thus, the principle of nondiscrimination becomes a fundamental driver of intersocial relations and

is an essential factor in the construction of any liberal democracy.

According to the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the principle of

nondiscrimination seeks to guarantee that human rights are exercised without discrimination of
any kind based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social

origin, property, birth, or other status such as disability, age, marital and family status, sexual

orientation, and gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation.

(Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2009) In fact, within this framework of secular
pluralism, another important right of the patient is not being discriminated against or stigmatized

by arbitrary characteristics.

The right to nondiscrimination and non-stigmatization is an important achievement of modern

civilization, making any discriminatory practice ethically reprehensible since it violates the right to
a person’s self-determination (Engelhardt 1996).

In healthcare, nondiscrimination is important in different settings.

Some instances are described below.

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