Expanding the List of Protected Grounds within Anti-Discrimination Law in the EU

Article 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union enshrines a list of protected grounds limited to sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, and sexual orientation and it served as the basis for the adoption of EU Directives in the field of equal treatment. At national level, some European states have adopted lists of protected grounds which go (far) beyond this list. However, many people discriminated against are still left out of the protection of anti-discrimination law in Europe. The fact that a list of protected grounds is limited and excludes some characteristics entails an important gap in the protection of some vulnerable people in society when they are victims of discrimination. It also stands in contrast with the EU’s ambitions expressed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, to protect everyone from discrimination on any protected ground. This report, commissioned by Equinet and written by Dr. Sarah Ganty and Dr. Juan Carlos Benito Sanchez, attempts to answer whether and how the expansion of the list of protected grounds in anti-discrimination law enhances the effectiveness of the anti-discrimination legal framework and its implementation