SPS and LAW Workshop

Should and Does Race or Ethnic ORIGIN Count in Fighting Discrimination?

11-12 June 2008, European University Institute, Florence

Sala Europa, Villa Schifanoia

 

 

 

 

 

An interdisciplinary group of researchers from the Social & Political Science and Law Departments of the European University Institute of Florence are studying issues relating to racial discrimination and anti-discrimination policy in countries of immigration. In particular, there is an increasing awareness that nowadays any in-depth analysis in the area involves necessarily the intervention from experts coming from both the legal and political and social sciences arena, as well as from different geographical locations. Therefore, the Anti-Discrimination Discussion Group wishes to organize a workshop, bringing together legal and political/social science experts along with practitioners, dealing with the theoretical and pragmatic implications of racial discrimination and anti-discrimination policy.

 

The workshop is entitled Should and does race or ethnic origin count in fighting discrimination ? The basic questions which are being asked are (i) whether constructed categories such as race and ethnic origin should matter when tackling discrimination; (ii) at which level a race/colour conscious policy should intervene and which policy instruments might be the most effective for fighting discrimination in countries of immigration; and (iii) how racial/ethnic categories are used in the EU framework and whether the implementation of such framework really work.

 

These questions correspond in the same order to three panels, which will broadly deal with the theoretical arguments in favour or against the use of race or ethnicity as a normative category (Panel I); with governance issues relating to race/colour-conscious policies in different experiences around the globe and at different levels (Panel II); and with the practical aspects relating to the implementation of anti-discrimination instruments at the level of EU member states (Panel III).

 

 

Please register with Ms. Annick Bulckaen at: annick.bulckaen@eui.eu

 

 

 

 

Programme

 

11 June 2008

 

9.15  Workshop opening: Bruno DE WITTE (EUI)

 

9.30 Panel I:  Should Race/Ethnic Origin Matter? Normative Questions and Answers

Chair: Bruno DE WITTE

 

9.45 Kendall THOMAS (Columbia Law School, NY)

 On a Comparison between the US and EU Approach to Categorization and Discrimination  

 

10.15 Mathias MSCHEL (EUI)

 The Absence of a Colour-conscious Jurisprudence in Europe

 

10.45 Coffee break

 

11.15 Daniel SABBAGH (CERI, Paris)

 Justifying Affirmative Action: The Third Way

 

11.45 Discussant: Rainer BAUBCK (EUI)

 

12.00 General debate

 

12.45 Lunch

 

14.15 Panel II:  Is Categorisation Effective when Implementing Anti-Discrimination Policy towards Groups at Risk of Discrimination in the EU?

Chair: Rainer BAUBCK

 

14.15 Costanza HERMANIN (EUI)

 What Europeanization of anti-discrimination policy? The implementation of the Racial Equality Directive in two member states

 

14.45 Virginie GUIRAUDON (Universit de Lille)

 A French perspective on European monitoring: The controversy over measuring discrimination

 

15.15 Coffee break

 

15.45 Emanuela Ignatoiu-Sora (EUI)

 What the anti-discrimination discourse adds to the protection for the Roma people? An analysis of the anti-discrimination tools used for the Roma in Europe

 

16. 15 Katrin Wladasch  (ZARA, Vienna)

 The implementation of the Racial Equality Directive in Austria

 

16.45 Discussant: Moritz JESSE (EUI)

17.00 General discussion

 

 

20.30 Conference Dinner

 

12 June 2008

(Morning only)

 

Panel III:  Race and Policy-Making in Immigration Countries: LEVELS OF INTERVENTION AND DIFFERING EXPERIENCES

Chair: Daniel SABBAGH

 

9.15 Michele GRIGOLO (EUI)

 Human rights and anti-discrimination policies at the city level: the case of race and ethnicity 

 

9.45 Mara Beln OLMOS GIUPPONI (EUI – Max Weber Programme)

 World experiences of categorization and anti-discrimination policy: Argentina

 

10.15 Coffee break

 

10.45 Julie RINGELHEIM (Universit Catholique de Louvain)

 Ethnic categorization in European human rights law

 

11.15 John WRENCH (EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Vienna)

 Ethnic statistics and the political desire for comparability in discrimination data

 

11.45 Discussant: Nadine EL-ENANY (EUI)

12.00 General discussion and conclusions