Roundtable: Rebuilding a fairer Europe after Covid-19 by extending protection against discrimination to new grounds

This roundtable was held 30 March from 10:00 to 12:30 CET and was aimed at equality bodies staff and relevant legislators and policymakers at European and at national level. The event discussed viable strategies for expanding the list of protected grounds and pinpointing the roles equality bodies can play in this. 

The lack of comprehensive protection in EU law against discrimination on all grounds has long been raised as an issue. Fixing the number of grounds to only six, as is the case at the EU level, potentially means excluding and undermining the significance of whole categories and manifestations of unjust exclusion and subordination. 

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic powerfully exposed the limitations of the current list of discrimination grounds in the equality and non-discrimination law of the European Union. Both Equinet’s perspective “Equality in the Time of Covid-19: Learning from Equality Body Initiatives”, as well as the perspective “Equality, Diversity, and Non-Discrimination in Healthcare: Learning from the Work of Equality Bodies”, point out the importance of these grounds, especially as they intersect with other grounds. Likewise, Recommendation number 8 of Equinet ‘s “Recommendation for a fair and equal Europe: Rebuilding our societies after COVID-19” reveals the key importance of some of these grounds.  

Based on these findings, in 2021, Equinet commissioned research to address the following question: How could the expansion of the list of protected grounds, in particular through the inclusion of health status and socio-economic status, as well as gender identity, expression and sex characteristics enhance the effectiveness of the European anti-discrimination legal framework and its implementation? This roundtable will serve as a discussion forum to give visibility to and mobilize action around the key findings and recommendations of the report. 

Objectives

This roundtable aims at:  

• shedding light on the usefulness and potential challenges or drawbacks of expanding the list of protected grounds under non-discrimination legislation.  
• discussing viable strategies for expanding the list of protected grounds and pinpointing the roles equality bodies can play in this. 

Format

The roundtable took place online in the form of a 2.5-hour interactive discussion session. It featured presentations, good practice exchanges, and reactions from right holders, legislators, and policymakers.