European Union Non-Discrimination Law: Comparative Perspectives on Multidimensional Equality Law - Edited by D. Schiek and V. Chege (original) (raw)

2009, European Law Journal

EU non-discrimination and equality law is a burgeoning area of scholarship and practice, which already means that this edited collection will be timely and requited. It proceeds on the-correct-premise that the problematic of multidimensionality is essential to any contemporary exploration of equality and non-discrimination law. This includes, most obviously, the problem of multiple and multiplying grounds of discrimination, against which action on an EU level is being increasingly pursued. The book's coverage further includes doctrinal, as well as theoretical, underpinnings of multidimensional equality, comparative perspectives and a case study on issues related to Islamic headscarves. This edited collection comprises 16 contributions from a range of British, Scandinavian, Western and Central European researchers, who address multidimensional equality from legal, sociological and political science perspectives. The book's most notable trait is its encyclopaedically wide coverage. Yet, some of its chapters also contain some unexpected insights, which will give some food for thought to researchers interested in various aspects of European equality law. An interesting contribution to note is the chapter by Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir, which deals with 'Themes from the European Convention on Human Rights' (ECHR). The underdeveloped and inconsistent nature of the ECHR non-discrimination provision-Article 14-has been much decried. In what is a refreshing contrast to this fairly conventional position, the author argues that it is precisely the lack of a regimental approach, firmly compartmentalising different grounds of discrimination, that has the potential to deal with intersectionality more imaginatively. Furthermore, it offers some lessons 'from the unique situation under the Convention [for] the new multidimensional future of EU equality law' (p 54). The author identifies 'the interest at stake' (p 57) as the less developed factor influencing the approach of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to discrimination cases under Article 14, as opposed to the type of discrimination and discrimination ground, which are more widely acknowledged. Also, she cites Thlimmenos v Greece 1 as evidence of the ECtHR's awareness of 'the complexity of the social construction of identities' (p 61). In this case, the applicant's rather particular identity as a 'male Jehovah's Witness. .. whose religion involved compelling reasons for refusing to serve in the armed forces' 2 was good enough to make his discrimination claim reviewable under Article 14. This avoided many of the conventional traps associated with multidimensional discrimination, such as the need for a symmetrical comparator in terms of both sex and religion. The author also points out that this was the first case in which the ECtHR recognised 'reasonable 1 (2000) 9 BHRC 12. 2 ibid, para 34.