Formation/Cours

At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

• Show familiarity with the main regulatory documents at international and European level.


• Understand and describe the major concepts and issues of anti-discrimination law in the European context.


• Think and critically analyze human rights and non-discrimination case law with regard to race/ethnicity.


• Analyse concrete situations from an anti-discrimination perspective and to develop and defend a concise and accurate argumentation.

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the issues, concepts and case law related to anti-discrimination law in the European context with a focus on racial discrimination of Romani people.

More specifically, the course will first touch upon the International and the European legal framework of equality and anti-discrimination law. It will then analyse the developments that took place in the European context by looking at the main European texts and institutions dealing with anti-discrimination law (e.g. European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union) and the main concepts that have been developed, namely direct and indirect discrimination but also harassment, intersectional/multiple discrimination and hate crimes.

Finally, aspects related to exhaustion of domestic remedies, the shift of the burden of proof and possible justifications of differential treatment will also be discussed.

The course aims to be as much as interactive as possible. After an introduction of basic principles and rules, specific issues and case studies related to human rights abuse of Roma will provide the students with the opportunity to understand anti-discrimination law developments and challenges in working groups during the sessions and as object of both a group and an individual assignment.