Paper Titles & Abstracts

My paper looks at mechanisms promoting equality for ethnic minorities in Belgium. Belgium has implemented the European anti-discrimination directives into national legislation, yet it has failed to render these laws truly operational. The lack of ethnic data is suggested to be one of the shortcomings of the Belgian system. Equality is key in a multicultural society such as the Belgian one, thus this matter derserves thorough analysis. The central research question is: To what extent does discrimination legislation restrict or create obligations concerning the collection and use of statistical data on ethnic minorities? The focus lies on legal obstacles and possible improvements in the Belgian framework, supplemented by an analysis of the applicable European and international rules as well as comparative research. The Roma minority in Belgium - who suffer great difficulties concerning education, employment, health, poverty and public and political participation - serves as a case study. A related sub-question is: Does affirmative action have an impact on the real life situation of Roma in Belgium. The expected outcome consists of clear guidelines that lay down if - and if so - how the ultimate goal of combating discrimination and enhancing equality can be achieved by processing data that are as such discriminatory.