The key to the French legal approach to racism and discrimination is the abstract, universalist, formal concept of equality, enshrined in a range of instruments, including the Constitutions of 1946 and 1958. As a result, the legal framework has developed along two complementary lines: the...

Due to several factors, which include the low level of legal awareness in Polish society; people's passivity (and sometimes fear) around seeking to uphold their rights; and a lack of systematic research, it is impossible to assess the real scale of discrimination in Poland. Research commissioned...

Lithuania regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The current Constitution was approved by referendum in 1992. On 1 May 2004 Lithuania joined the European Union, requiring significant changes to be made to the legal system in little over a decade to meet EU and international...

Hungary is a country of around 10 million people. Fifteen years after its political transition into democratic pluralism, Hungary became a member of the EU. The creation of democratic laws and institutions has been accompanied by increasing awareness of the principle of equal treatment, but the...

The authority to enact laws is vested in the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag). The Government, however, has the power to issue decrees concerning less important matters. To some extent this power stems directly from the Instrument of Government (1974:152), one of Sweden's four constitutional...

Due to several factors, which include the low level of legal awareness in Polish society, people's passivity (and sometimes fear) around seeking to uphold their rights and a lack of systematic research, it is impossible to assess the real scale of discrimination in Poland. Research commissioned...

The Slovak Republic is a country of 5.4 million people. In addition to Slovak nationals, a wide range of minority groups live in the country. The largest groups are Hungarians (8.5 %) and the Roma minority. The official number of Roma in the last census (2011) was 105 738 (2 %), although the...

The Republic of Albania (RoA) has a formal constitution, which has the highest legal power in the country.The Constitution was adopted in 1998 with Law No. 8417, 'Constitution of the Republic of Albania'. So far, it has been revised five times. None of the five constitutional reforms concerned...

In the European Union, there are numerous non-agricultural products made based on local knowledge and following local production methods that are rooted in the cultural and social heritage of their home region and that, ultimately, possess unique distinctive qualities and characteristics due to...