A/69/274 respect to the right to adequate housing. Unlike any other treaty, the Con vention encompasses the rights to non-discrimination and substantive equality as well as economic and social rights, including the right to adequate housing. Moreover, the Convention includes unique provisions regarding “access to justice” and “national implementation and monitoring” to ensure that principles of substantive equality are fully implemented through domestic law and policy. 43. Migrant workers have also made important advances in addressing discrimination in economic and social contexts, such as discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status, including “undocumented” status. Migrant domestic workers, migrant construction workers (for example, those working in extractive industries or large-scale infrastructure projects), children, older migrants and migrants in irregular situations are the most vulnerable, often lacking administrative or judicial remedies for their housing claims. Migrant workers and the members of their families frequently face housing conditions characterized by overcrowding, irregular or unregulated rental markets, high exposure to arbitrary changes in the cost of rent or essential services, and substandard living conditions, and can be subject to abuse, in particular when they are undocumented. 44. A number of key principles of non-discrimination and equality in the context of economic and social rights and international human rights law are of particular relevance to the right to adequate housing: (a) discrimination is prohibited whether it be direct (for example, a law or policy explicitly bars women from obtaining loans in order to purchase housing) or indirect (for example, in order to provide credit for the purchase of housing, a bank requires that borrowers have a type of collateral or specific employment references that many women and migrants, particularly if they are undocumented, are unable to provide); (b) it is the effect of a law or policy rather than its intent that should be the focus of discrimination analysis; and (c) discrimination and inequality can occur equally in the private and public spheres, and States have the obligation to prevent and provide remedies to discrimination, regardless of where it occurs. 45. It is also widely accepted that equality and non-discrimination must be achieved substantively, not merely formally. 20 This means recognizing that vulnerable groups are situated differently, that their differences need to be accommodated in laws, policies and programmes, and that States and other actors have a positive obligation to address and remedy systemic patterns of inequality. 46. A number of developments related to the grounds of discrimination have emerged under international human rights law. For example, the unique effects of “multiple discrimination” (such as the experience of women belonging to racial or ethnic minority groups) have now been recognized as requiring specific consideration and remedies. In addition, the ground of “economic and social situation”, including homelessness and poverty, is now understood as a distinct ground of discrimination. It is recognized that those facing discrimination in access to housing because of ethnic origin, sex or disability, for example, are often subject to further stigmatization, discrimination and criminalization because of their socioeconomic and housing status, such as living on the streets, in informal settlements or in substandard housing. __________________ 20 12/20 See E/C.12/2005/4 and E/C.12/GC/20; see also E/2008/76. 14-58890