An article examined the construction of diversity 'discourses' in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The concept of diversity had no universal fixed meaning but was contextual, contested, and temporal. Temporarily fixed definitions and frames of diversity were path-dependent and shaped by the regulatory context.
Source: Ahu Tatli, Joana Vassilopoulou, Akram Al Ariss, and Mustafa Ozbilgin, 'The role of regulatory and temporal context in the construction of diversity discourses: the case of the UK, France and Germany', European Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 18 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the 'headscarf' cases. These decisions had been widely criticized as adopting a militantly secularist approach to the presence of Islamic religious symbols in the public sphere: but the headscarf cases turned less on the balance between state neutrality and religious belief than on an understanding of certain religious symbols as a threat to public order and as harbingers of sectarian strife that undermined democracy.
Source: Nehal Bhuta, Two Concepts of Religious Freedom in the European Court of Human Rights, Working Paper Law 2012/33, European University Institute (Florence)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Dec
A report examined the process of seeking justice in discrimination cases in eight European Union member states (including the United Kingdom). It highlighted a number of the practical barriers faced by complainants and suggested some solutions.
Source: Access to Justice in Cases of Discrimination in the EU: Steps to further equality, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Links: Report | FRA press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A new book examined how the European Court of Human Rights could improve the mainstreaming of diversity in its judgments.
Source: Eva Brems (ed.), Diversity and European Human Rights: Rewriting judgments of the ECHR, Cambridge University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Dec
A new book examined the extent to which women and migrant/minority groups were included or excluded in European public spheres.
Source: Birte Siim and Monika Mokre (eds), Negotiating Gender and Diversity in an Emergent European Public Sphere, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Nov
A report presented the results from a special Eurobarometer survey on discrimination. It examined the following grounds of discrimination: gender; ethnic origin; religion or beliefs; age (divided into two subcategories: over 55 and under 30); disability; sexual orientation; and gender identity (being transsexual or transgender).
Source: Discrimination in the EU in 2012, Special Eurobarometer 393, European Commission
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that educational expansion in Europe had enhanced inequality of opportunity for tertiary education among cohorts born in the 1950s and 1970s, and enhanced inequality of opportunity at the secondary level for the cohort of the 1970s. Privileged social strata were better poised to benefit from educational expansion than lower strata. Expansion was not necessarily an effective tool for the reduction of inequality of educational opportunity.
Source: Eyal Bar Haim and Yossi Shavit, 'Expansion and inequality of educational opportunity: a comparative study', Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Volume 31
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
An article said that despite the many positive aspects of the case law on religious freedom that had emerged from the European Court of Human Rights, the Court had not provided an adequate protection of individual religious or moral identity, especially when it was expressed in particular actions in ordinary life, beyond traditional expressions of religiosity such as rites or preaching.
Source: Javier Martinez-Torron, 'The (un)protection of individual religious identity in the Strasbourg case law', Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 1 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
A report examined the challenges and opportunities facing national equality bodies in Europe, in the context of the economic and financial crisis.
Source: Equality Bodies: Current Challenges, Equinet (European Network of Equality Bodies)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
An article highlighted the 'dangerous, indeed poisonous, nature' of debates on immigration and multiculturalism in Europe. There was a 'crisis of values', which had been consistently overlooked or manipulated by politicians and academics alike, or reduced to an epiphenomenon bound to disappear when global financial crisis was over.
Source: Umut Ozkirimli, '"And people's concerns were genuine: why didn't we listen more?": nationalism, multiculturalism and recognition in Europe', Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Volume 20 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
A report examined whether the European Union had competence to adopt legislation on hate crimes against groups defined by reference to race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, and religion. It concluded that the best way forward would be to adopt a Directive concerning bias/hate crimes as regards all groups, which would incorporate and strengthen the existing framework decision on racism and xenophobia.
Source: Steve Peers, The Legal Grounds for Inclusive EU Legislation against Bias Violence and Hatred, ILGA Europe
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
A new book examined whether the overlap between the non-discrimination regimes of the European Union and the Council of Europe in the field of public employment might lead to conflicting case law.
Source: Sarah Haverkort-Speekenbrink, European Non-Discrimination Law, Intersentia
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Oct
A new book examined the decisions and judgments of the European Court of Human Rights since 1955 in respect of sexual orientation. The Court's judgments had frequently forged and advanced new social conditions in respect of homosexuality.
Source: Paul Johnson, Homosexuality and the European Court of Human Rights, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined specific legal approaches to secularism in western countries. In contemporary democracies secularism had to find a balance between the universal need for a peaceful co-existence and the protection of religious-cultural rights – not only the rights of a group to be different, but also the rights of individuals within these groups.
Source: Francesco Alicino, 'Western secularism in an age of religious diversity', International Review of Sociology, Volume 22 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
A new book examined the ways in which multiple inequalities were being addressed institutionally in Europe, and identified the changing patterns of institutionalization. Using country-based and region-specific case studies it offered a comparative analysis of the multi-dimensional equality regimes that were emerging in Europe, and analyzed the potential that these had for 'institutionalizing intersectionality'.
Source: Andrea Krizsan, Hege Skjeie, and Judith Squires (eds), Institutionalizing Intersectionality: The changing nature of European equality regimes, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jul
A new book examined legislative means to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism, and other forms of related intolerance in European countries.
Source: Talia Naamat, Nina Osin, and Dina Porat (eds), Legislating for Equality: A multinational collection of non-discrimination norms (Volume I: Europe), Martinus Nijhoff
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jul
A report examined case law relating to religious discrimination and freedom of religion under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights. It considered the ways in which the right to manifest religion or belief could generally be limited, including in the field of employment, education, the provision of goods and services, and in public spaces (such as the ban on veils covering the whole face). It then discussed the ways in which the right to manifest religion or belief could specifically be limited where it conflicted with the rights of others.
Source: Equality Law in Practice: A Question of Faith – Religion and belief in Europe, Equinet (European Network of Equality Bodies)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the evolving relationship between the concept of discrimination in international labour law and the socio-economic phenomenon of inequality at work. Although non-discrimination was initially understood as a fairly limited legal principle mandating equal treatment for similarly situated individuals, it subsequently expanded to address indirect discrimination resulting from apparently neutral rules, standards, and practices at work. It had expanded further to take on group-based patterns of inequality at work related to the structural constraints of the market, the family, and community life, ultimately resulting in convergence between anti-discrimination law and legal initiatives to reduce class-based socio-economic inequality and poverty.
Source: Colleen Sheppard, 'Mapping anti-discrimination law onto inequality at work: expanding the meaning of equality in international labour law', International Labour Review, Volume 151 Issues 1-2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report offered an overview of recent case law regarding fundamental rights from the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. It identified the main trends and fields of conflict, focusing on the role played by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. It also considered the nature and intensity of cross-references between the Courts.
Source: Alejandro Saiz Arnaiz and Aida Torres Perez, Main Trends in the Recent Case Law of the EU Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights in the Field of Fundamental Rights, European Parliament
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Apr
A report gave an overview of the protection from discrimination under the main human rights treaties of the Council of Europe. It sought to identify aspects of that protection that could influence the outstanding questions of interpretation of European Union Directives relating to equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, equal treatment in employment and occupation, and equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation.
Source: Olivier De Schutter, The Prohibition of Discrimination under European Human Rights Law: Relevance for the EU non-discrimination Directives – An update, European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-Discrimination Field (European Commission)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined and compared the approaches taken by the two leading human rights bodies of the Council of Europe (the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee on Social Rights), focusing on their case law on disability and the education rights of Roma children. Although there were still important differences between the two bodies' approaches, their growing body of reference jurisprudence showed interesting signs of convergence and cross-fertilization.
Source: Samantha Besson, 'Evolutions in non-discrimination law within the ECHR and the ESC Systems: "It Takes Two to Tango in the Council of Europe"', American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 60 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book examined the challenges that the European legal system faced in adapting to the spread of Islamic belief in European countries.
Source: W Cole Durham, Rik Torfs, David Kirkham, and Christine Scott (eds.), Islam, Europe and Emerging Legal Issues, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the recent evolution of European Union equality law, and the equality law of single European countries. Increased attention had been given to the procedural and institutional preconditions for effective protection against discrimination. In this context, the creation of public bodies specially tasked with the promotion of equal treatment (equality institutions), which used to be a specific feature of only some European countries – such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, was now common all over Europe.
Source: Bruno de Witte, 'New institutions for promoting equality in Europe: legal transfers, national bricolage and European governance', American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 60 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the meaning of equality being elaborated in Europe with respect to legal protection from discrimination related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Some interpretations entailed little challenge to the general social order, in particular where equality was understood to mean formal equal treatment of individuals in comparable situations. In contrast, more radical readings of equality posed a challenge to established social conventions around gender or the family.
Source: Mark Bell, 'Gender identity and sexual orientation: alternative pathways in EU equality law', American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 60 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined recent developments in anti-discrimination law in Europe and the United States of America. In Europe, anti-discrimination norms were proliferating within both the European Union and the Council of Europe systems, and elaborate networks and programmes of implementation were being established and funded. The grounds of discrimination were widening, the norms were being strengthened, and the new laws were being actively litigated.(In the USA, by comparison, decades of social and political backlash had significantly weakened the corpus of anti-discrimination law.)
Source: Grainne de Burca, 'The trajectories of European and American antidiscrimination law', American Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 60 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book examined the role that the people played in defining and developing human rights in Europe, and whether rendering the original process of defining human rights more democratic at the national and international level would improve the degree of protection they afforded.
Source: Definition and Development of Human Rights and Popular Sovereignty in Europe, Council of Europe
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book said that there was a trend in Europe and other advanced countries for courts to curtail religious freedom in favour of other social priorities such as equality and non-discrimination.
Source: Roger Trigg, Equality, Freedom and Religion, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary | Oxford University press release
Date: 2012-Jan
An article examined the treatment of multiple and intersectional discrimination in European Union law. Many countries continued to address discrimination in an 'atomized' way on the assumption that persons and groups covered should be described 'mono-characteristically'.
Source: Karon Monaghan, 'Multiple and intersectional discrimination in EU law', European Anti-Discrimination Law Review, Issue 13
Links: Article
Date: 2012-Jan
A report accused the European Union and its member governments of being unwilling to tackle human rights abuse at home during 2011, even as they proclaimed the issue's importance in other parts of the world.
Source: World Report 2012, Human Rights Watch
Links: Report | HRC press release
Date: 2012-Jan
A new book examined the 'implementation gap' between human rights standards (at European and international level) and their integration into national law by European countries.
Source: Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights in Europe: No grounds for complacency, Council of Europe
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jan
