On 18-19 March 2013 in Berlin, Equinet, with the support and hosting of the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency of Germany, organised a training dedicated exclusively to national equality bodies.
The agenda of the training can be accessed below:
The general objective of this training was to enhance participants’ capacity in dealing with cases and to further develop their expertise in interpreting and effectively/efficiently using anti-discrimination legislation.
The training offered particular opportunities to learn about and discuss with peers issues relating to:
The shift of the burden of proof and types of evidence in discrimination cases
Situation testing and its use
Practicalities of involvement in a case before the European courts
Disability discrimination
Participation in this Equinet training was solely reserved to staff members of national equality bodies directly handling cases of alleged discrimination. The training was aimed at staff members of both ‘tribunal-type’ and ‘non-tribunal-type’ (promotional) equality bodies.
The Secretariat has compiled a summary of the main discussions and arguments at the training. You can access this summary below.
Keynote presentations in order of appearance:
Uyen Do, Migration Policy Group, Evidence in discrimination cases and the place of situation testing (click here for the presentation);
Alexander Klose, Büro für Recht und Wissenschaft, Berlin, Practical experiences with situation testing (click here for the presentation);
Barbara Bos, Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, Practical experiences of judging evidence and shifting the burden of proof (click here for the presentation);
Thomas Henze, Division EA5 Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany before the European Courts
German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Referring discrimination cases to the CJEU – implications of the Belov case (click here for the presentation);
Clare Collier, Equality and Human Rights Commission, UK, Practical aspects of involvement in a case before the European Court of Human Rights (click here for the presentation);
Dr. Andreas Inghammar, Lund University, Discrimination on the ground of disability (click here for the presentation);
Tarek Naguib, Centre for Social Law, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Chronic disease: Ground of discrimination? Findings of a study on disability commissioned by the FADA (click here for the presentation);
Proving discrimination cases: the role of situation testing
The applicability of testing procedures regarding the burden of proof - The German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency
EU Anti-discrimination law review No. 11
EU Anti-discrimination law review No. 15
Disability and non-discrimination law in the European Union
Handbook on European non-discrimination law
Influencing the law through legal proceedings: The powers and practices of equality bodies
Directives 2000/43/EC, 2000/78/EC, 2004/113/EC, and 2006/54/EC.
Claiming expenses
Travel and subsistence costs are covered by Equinet. Reimbursements are only possible when an original Equinet reimbursement form is correctly filled in and sent to the Equinet Secretariat (yannick.godin@equineteurope.org or +32 2 212 3182).
Click here to download the Equinet reimbursement form.