(vi) the nature and scope of the obligation to ensure non-discrimination and equality of opportunity in access to education, including access to education for nonnationals, refugees, internally displaced persons, people living with disabilities and other minorities. Summary • International law requires States to provide education in an inclusive and nondiscriminatory manner and to give legal effect to and enforce the right to be free from discrimination. • Guarantees of non-discrimination and equality mandate both formal and substantive equality. • Affirmative action may be necessary in order to diminish or eliminate conditions which cause or help to perpetuate prohibited discrimination. • States are required to provide appropriate education to internally displaced children and child refugees. • States are required to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Discussion Defining discrimination International instruments Under article 2(2) of the ICESCR, States undertake to guarantee that the right to education “will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” The prohibited grounds of discrimination set out in article 2(2) are not, however, exhaustive.246 Other prohibited grounds that could apply to the right to education include physical and mental disability, health status, economic condition, sexual orientation and age. Article 1(1) of the CADE provides that the term “discrimination” includes “any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference” which, being based on a prohibited ground of 246 Limburg Principles at para 36. 96