General Comment on education that “the principle of non-discrimination extends to all persons of school age residing in the territory of a State party including non-nationals and irrespective of their legal status.”76 It also states concerning rights to health: “States are under the obligation to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, including minorities, asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants.”77 The 2008 General Comment on the Right to Social Security “prohibits any discrimination, whether in law or in fact, whether direct or indirect, on the grounds of race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, and civil, political, social or other status, which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the equal enjoyment or exercise of the right to social security.” It also calls the States to pay special attention to individuals and groups who traditionally face difficulties in exercising this right, such as minority groups, refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, returnees, and non-nationals.78 International human rights law assures equal rights for all humans.79 Based on the above opinions of human rights bodies, one needs to be watchful of whether granting certain immigration status to a specific group has the “effect of nullifying or impairing the equal enjoyment or exercise of rights.” In observations of periodic reports submitted by State parties, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on Civil and Political Rights 80 sometimes encourages states to regularize the status of illegal immigrants to secure their human rights.81 This has been a decisive step for improving the status of de facto stateless persons. 76 General Comment No.13: The Rights of Education, UN Doc.E/C/1999/10, para. 34. General Comment No.14: The Rights to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, UN Doc.E/C.12/2000/4 para. 34. 78 General Comment No.19: The Right of Social Security, E/C/12/GC/19, 4 February 2008, paras. 29-31. 79 Articles 8 to 33 of the 1990 Migrant Workers Convention extends civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights protection to illegal migrant workers. The Convention in principle does not apply to “refugees or stateless persons” (Article 3 d), but the stateless persons here refers to de jure stateless persons, so one may assume that it can be applied to de facto stateless persons who are not refugees. 80 E.g., Concluding Observations Spain 10 March 2004, Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, UN Doc. A/59/18 para.171: Concluding Observations Italy, UN Doc.E/C,12/1Add.103, 26 November 2004, para. 8. 81 Precedents in the European Court of Human Rights indicate cases in limited circumstances when there is a right to regularization. European Court of Human Rights, Sisojeva and Others v. Latvia, Judgment of 16 June 2005, Application No.60654/00, para.104011. See Lu, H., “The Personal Application of the Right to Work in the Age of Migration,” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol.26 (2008), pp.63-70. 77 32