46 The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social condition. 157. The Commission will examine the petitioners’ arguments regarding the discrimination they are alleged to have suffered in the criminal cases prosecuted against them, in the following order: i) General observations on the right to equal protection and the prohibition of discrimination based on ethnic or racial affiliation or origin; ii) the right to equality and the prohibition of discrimination in the context of judicial proceedings and anti-terrorism campaigns; iii) the selective application of antiterrorism laws to members of the Mapuche indigenous people, in light of the right to equality and nondiscrimination, and iv) an examination of whether the prosecution and conviction of the victims under the Anti-Terrorism Law was discriminatory. 1. The right to equal protection and the prohibition of discrimination based on ethnic or racial affiliation or origin 158. The American Convention prohibits discrimination of any kind, which includes unjustified distinctions based on race, color, national or social origin, economic status, birth or any other social condition. The principle of equality and non-discrimination is one of the protections that underpin the guarantee of other rights and freedoms. Under Article 1(1) of the American Convention, every person is the titulaire of the rights recognized in such instruments and is entitled to have the State respect and ensure his free and full exercise of those rights, without discrimination of any kind. In the words of the Inter-American Court, “Non-discrimination, together with equality before the law and equal protection of 174 the law, are elements of a general basic principle related to the protection of human rights.” 159. As the Inter-American Court has explained, “Article 1(1) of the Convention, a rule general in scope which applies to all the provisions of the treaty, imposes on the States Parties the obligation to respect and guarantee the free and full exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized therein ‘without any discrimination’. In other words, regardless of its origin or the form it may assume, any treatment that can be considered to be discriminatory with regard to the exercise of any of the rights guaranteed under 175 the Convention is per se incompatible with that instrument.” 160. The Court has explained the scope of Article 24 of the Convention, which recognizes the right to equality before the law and to equal protection of the law, without discrimination, as follows: “Although Articles 24 and 1(1) are conceptually not identical, (…) Article 24 restates to a certain degree the principle established in Article 1(1). In recognizing equality before the law, it prohibits all discriminatory treatment originating in a legal prescription. The prohibition against discrimination so broadly proclaimed in Article 1(1) with regard to the rights and guarantees enumerated in the Convention thus extends to the domestic law of the States Parties, permitting the conclusion that in these provisions the States Parties, by acceding to the Convention, have undertaken to maintain their laws free of 176 discriminatory regulations.” 161. As for the notion of equality, the Inter-American Court observed that it “‘springs directly from the oneness of the human family and is linked to the essential dignity of the individual. That 174 I/A Court H.R., Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03 of September 17, 2003, Series A. No. 18, paragraph 83. The Human Rights Committee has made the same observation: “Nondiscrimination, together with equality before the law and equal protection of the law without any discrimination, constitute a basic and general principle relating to the protection of human rights.” Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 18: Nondiscrimination, November 11, 1989, paragraph 1. 175 I/A Court H.R., Proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provision of the Constitution of Costa Rica. Advisory Opinion OC-4/84 of January 19, 1984. Series A No. 4, paragraph 53. 176 /A Court H.R., Proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provision of the Constitution of Costa Rica. Advisory Opinion OC-4/84 of January 19, 1984. Series A No. 4, paragraph 54. See also, IACHR, Report No. 40/04, Case 12.053, Maya Indigenous Community of the Toledo District v. Belize, October 12, 2004, paragraphs 162 et seq.