ECN, Art. 5(1): “The rules of a State Party on nationality shall not contain distinctions or include any practice which amount to discrimination on the grounds of sex, religion, race, colour or national or ethnic origin. ECN, Art. 5(2): “Each State Party shall be guided by the principle of non-discrimination between its nationals, whether they are nationals by birth or have acquired its nationality subsequently. ECN, Art. 17(1): “Nationals of a State Party in possession of another nationality shall have, in the territory of that State Party in which they reside, the same rights and duties as other nationals of that State Party. UNHCR Guidelines No. 5, para. 77: “Article of the 1961 Convention] applies irrespective of whether or not statelessness would result from the deprivation. UNHCR Guidelines No. 5, para. 111: “States should take steps to ensure that the practical effort of withdrawal of nationality is not that certain groups (e.g., ethnic or religious minorities) are disproportionately affected by laws and policies on and practices of withdrawal of nationality. Such discriminatory effect on a particular group may be present even when legislation in the State contains strong safeguards against statelessness. 41. The prohibition of discrimination is one of the foundational tenets of international human rights law. UDHR Article declares that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and Article 2 provides that all rights shall be enjoyed without discrimination. The rights to equality and non-discrimination are enshrined in all the core international and regional human rights treaties. Article 2 of the two Covenants (ICCPR61 and ICESCR62) obligate State parties to ensure that Covenant rights are exercised without any discrimination or distinction of any kind as to “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status . 42. Further, as set out in the table above, Article of the ICCPR protects every person’s equality before the law and prohibits discrimination on any ground. Importantly, Article 26 is autonomous from Article 2. It does not only ensure freedom from discrimination in relation to enjoyment of Convention rights (as Article 2 does), it also "prohibits discrimination in law or in fact in any field 61 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976, 999 UNTS 171. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976, 993 UNTS 3. 62 35