8. The Applicants further contend that Articles 1254 and 1275 of the Law of 12 July 2010, which make enrolment in higher education programmes subject to prior approval by the hierarchical authority, are incompatible with the human rights instruments ratified by the Respondent State, in particular, Articles 1 and 2 of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention against Discrimination in Education (hereinafter referred to as “the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education”). B. Alleged violations 9. The Applicants allege violation of the following rights by the Respondent State: i. The right to equality before the law and the right to equal protection of the law without any discrimination, protected by Article 3 of the Charter and Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to as the “ICCPR”); ii. The right to equal access to the public service of one’s country, provided protected by Articles 13(2) of the Charter and 25(c) of the ICCPR; iii. The right to equal opportunity for advancement to the appropriate higher rank without regard to any consideration other than length of service in the most recent rank and competence, protected by Articles 15 of the Charter and 7(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the ICESCR”); and Article 125: “Advancement to a higher rank through training requires that a national police officer successfully complete studies at the level corresponding to the higher category he wishes to access. In order to enrol for the aforementioned training, the police officer shall: serve for at least five (5) years in the corps; obtain prior approval of his hierarchical authority, including their last performance appraisal and of the specialization of the corps he plans to access; be, at least five, (5) years away from retirement at the end of the training”. 5 Article 127: “In order to lead to promotion, in-service training shall be in a discipline which corresponds to one of the specializations of the Police; furthermore, it shall be justified by need, and undertaken by officers in service or on secondment. The training undertaken shall allow the officer, depending on the diploma obtained, to get an advancement to the next higher grade, or to a higher category which corresponds to the diploma obtained. Promotion resulting from the said training, shall not, in any way, pave the way for access to a higher category in the same corps. To benefit from the right to advancement to a higher grade, the training duration shall not be less than two (2) years.” 4 4