These freedoms are accompanied by rights which guarantee equality. The Basic Law expresses the general principle that all people are equal before the law by providing that no one shall be prejudiced or favored because of their sex, birth, race, language, national or social origin, faith, religion or political opinions, nor may anyone be discriminated against on account of their disability. It expressly states that men and women have equal rights and that all Germans are equally eligible for any public office.

The basic rights also deal with the protection and guarantee of social institutions such as marriage, family, church and school. Some basic rights are expressly formulated as entitlements to services and benefits, for example that every mother is entitled to the protection and care of the community.

One basic right, which by its very nature can only apply to foreigners, is the right of political asylum. The Basic Law is the first German constitutional instrument to provide refuge in Germany for foreigners persecuted on political grounds. The influx of hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers over the years, the great majority of whom were not subject to political persecution in their native countries and whose motives were mainly economic, was getting out of control and threatened to undermine the basic right of asylum for genuine cases of persecution.