The European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-discrimination Field prepared a comparative review on non-discrimination law in Europe over 2011-2012, financed by the Directorate-General for Justice of the European Commission and published in October 2012.

The paper gives an overall description of non-discrimination law in the 27 EU Member States as well as in candidate countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, plus the SEE countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

„Developing Anti-Discrimination Law in Europe” focused on comparing information in the country reports with the European Union standards. They covered national legislation, application mechanisms, case law and other non-discrimination measures adopted, based on data collected until 1 January 2012.

The report authors, Isabelle Chopin and Thien Uyen Nu (Migration Policy Group), draw a number of conclusions on the actual enforcement of non-discrimination law in Europe. One of the conclusions is that victims still have difficulty in recognising a discriminatory situation. Awareness is low not only among the public but also among the members of the legal professions, although for the latter change has slowly started.

Since adoption in 2000 of the two European legislative acts - the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43) and the Employment Equality Directive (2000/78) - the non-discrimination legislation was adopted and revised in most European countries.
Although some countries made progress with respect to positive actions and dissemination information on non-discrimination laws, in the authors' view there are still many things to do to consolidate dialogue between governments, civil society and social partners and to raise public awareness.

The report „Developing Anti-Discrimination Law in Europe” can be downloaded here: http://www.migpolgroup.com/wp_mpg/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Developing-Anti-Discrimination-Law-in-Europe-2012-EN-.pdf.

Source: Migration Policy Group E-newsletter no. 36, August 2013