2025 Ljubljana Conference

 

12th Annual Conference of the

Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law

July 2-4, 2025

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Conference Program

Wednesday, July 2 (Central European Time)

10:00 AM
Opening Remarks

• David B. Oppenheimer, Clinical Professor of Law at Berkeley Law
• Miro Cerar, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana
• Tilen Štajnpihler Božič, Associate Professor at Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana
• Miha Lobnik, Head of Slovene Equality Body at Advocate of the Principle of Equality

 

10:15 AM
Plenary Panel 1
Launch of the “Equality For All” Initiative: Global Network of Universities in Support of Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation

• Claude Cahn (Chair)
• Laura Cahier
• Indira Boutier
• Chet Narayan Rasaili (Organizer)
• Jim Fitzgerald (Organizer)

 

11:30 AM Coffee Break

 

11:45 AM
Workshop Period 1 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 1.1

• Lisa Waddington, Exploring the link between (in)accessibility and disability
  discrimination in legislation and case law in Europe
• Katarzyna Widlas-Klimsiak, Systemic Discrimination in Healthcare: Legal Perspectives on Mental Health Equality in Poland within the EU Legal Framework
• Beth Gaze, Introducing Evidence of systemic or structural discrimination

 

Workshop 1.2

• Sophie Bols, #NotAllMen (Have Access to Justice): Masculinity and Intersectionality in EU Externalisation Migration Policy
• Tamara Thermitus, Intersectional leadership and its challenges
• Barbara Giovanna Bello, Twin transitions and anti-discrimination law: An EU perspective on the intersection of class  and migrant status in 25 years of anti-discrimination law

 

Workshop 1.3
BCCE’s Gender Justice Working Group: Comparing Recent Legislation on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, Including Harassment

• Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme (Co-Chair)
• Costanza Hermanin (Co-Chair)
• Simone Walker-McFarlane
• Jackie Menjo
• Amanda Aziz

 

Workshop 1.4

• Shivaun Quinlivan, Inclusive Equality: A catalyst for the introduction of positive duties?
• Cathérine Van de Graaf and Ivo Gruev, A religious intolerance test: Is the European Court of Human Rights fulfilling its counter-majoritarian mandate?
• Ofra Bloch, SFFA and the Memory Wars 27 Journal of Constitutional Law (forthcoming)

 

Workshop 1.5

• Shreya Atrey, Racial Discrimination Law as Anti-Transformation
• Colm O’Cinneide, The Stagnation of Equality Law
• Marie Mercat-Bruns, The search for adequate tools to promote inclusion: EU law at a crossroad?

 

Workshop 1.6
Proposal for a BCCE International Law Reform Working Group

• Karen O’Connell
• Linda Senden

 

1:00 PM Lunch

 

2:15 PM Workshop Period 2 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 2.1

• Angelo Capuano, Investigating bias based on class, race and disability in ChatGPT and other Large Language Models: Is discrimination law equipped for the latest leap in AI?
• Vibeke Blaker Strand, Implementation of the burden of proof rule under EU/EEA non-discrimination law:  domestic obstacles and emerging potential in the face of new technology
• Sangh Rakshita, A Difference of Kind, Not Just Degree: A Substantive Equality Approach to Combat Algorithmic Discrimination

 

Workshop 2.2

• Greta Bosch and Almas Shaikh, Decolonising in/of/for Praxis
• Margot Young, A Complex of Equality
• Miha Lobnik, The History of Slovenia’s Progress on Marriage Equality

 

Workshop 2.3

• Biljana Kotevska, Is Anything Intersectional If Everything Is? A Critical Look at Approaches to Intersectional Discrimination In South-East Europe
• MariaCaterina La Barbera & Ximena Pardo Fuentes, Unveiling Structural Inequalities in Citizenship Law: An Intersectional Analysis of Two Decades of Spanish Case Law
• Karen O’Connell, The context lens: How legislation can effectively address intersectional discrimination

 

Workshop 2.4

• Nozizwe Dube, Capturing Harm, Fostering Anti-Subordination: New Directions for EU Equality Law
• Türkan Ertuna Lagrand & Salvatore Nicolosi, Gender-Based Asylum through the Transformative Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union
• Marie Spinoy, The Shifting Boundaries between Direct and Indirect Discrimination in the Case Law of the Court of Justice

 

Workshop 2.5
Prearranged Panel: Strategic litigation challenging systemic discrimination against the Roma: lessons from European apex courts

• Kristen Henrard (Chair)
• Marek Szilvasi
• Maros Matiasko
• Lilla Farkas
• Tamas Kadar
• Istvan Haller

 

Workshop 2.6

• Barbara Havelková, Against poverty as a discrimination ground
• Stefanía Rainaldi, Structural Discrimination as a Gateway to Addressing Poverty in the Inter-American System of Human Rights
• Roni Rosenberg, Cyber Crimes: Addressing Gender Inequality

 

3:30 PM Coffee Break

 

3:45 PM
Keynote Presentation 1
Hon. Dr. Neža Kogovšek Šalamon

 

4:45 PM
Town Hall Meeting on the Future of the Center: Part 1 (Discussion will be led by David B. Oppenheimer)

 

6:00 PM
Cocktails and Cultural Event

 

 

Thursday, July 3 (Central European Time)

9:00 AM
Keynote Presentation 2
Nika Kovač, Founding Director of The Research Institute of 8th March

 

10:00 AM
Plenary Panel 2
Plenary for presentation by European Equality Bodies Network Members followed by a workshop to continue the conversation

 

11:15 AM Coffee Break

 

11:30 AM
Workshop Period 3 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 3.1

• Pieter Cannoot, Protecting Non-Binary Persons Against Discrimination in (and through) EU Law: Time to Overcome Blind Spots
• Mukta Sathe, Gender pay gap in the 21st Century: An insurmountable obstacle or a golden opportunity to rework global economic systems?
• Tetyana (Tanya) Krupiy, When the Water Does Not Reflect The Image: Solutions to Gaps in the Protection from Algorithmic Discrimination in the Equality Act 2010 (United Kingdom) and Beyond

 

Workshop 3.2
Book Talk: Realizing Protection from Age Discrimination: International, Regional, and National Perspectives

• Mark Bell (Chair)
• Helen Meenan
• Christa Tobler

 

Workshop 3.3
Continuation of discussion of the European Equality Bodies Network Members

 

Workshop 3.4

• Nina Peršak, Gender equality and criminal justice: recent regulation of gender-based violence in Slovenia and EU
• Wendy Pena-Gonzalez, Proportionality of punishment: guarantee or threat for equality?
• Laura Carlson, States’ Use of Human Rights Justifications to Limit Human Rights in the Context of Migration
  

 

Workshop 3.5
Prearranged Panel: Reclaiming Bodies: Corporeality and Social Exclusion

• Alexandra Timmer (Chair)
• Jet Tigchelaar
• Romee Klis
• Lorena Sosa
• Brenda Oude Breuil

 

Workshop 3.6

• Snjezana Vasiljevic, EU Directive 2024/1385 on combating violence against women and domestic violence
• Miha Lobnik, The Role of the Equality Body in Slovenia
• Tilen Štajnpihler Božič & Kristina Krajnc, Tracing the EU Concept of Discrimination in Slovenian Case Law

 

Workshop 3.7

• Nausica Palazzo, Marital Status Discrimination: A Comparative Law Analysis
• Simeon Beckett, Hate speech laws: how a desire to protect vulnerable groups can backfire and lead to increased discrimination
• Russell K. Robinson, Equality Law and Antiwoke Movements Across Borders

 

12:45 PM Lunch

 

2:00 PM
Workshop Period 4 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 4.1
Intersectional Issues in Pay Equity, a Presentation by the Working Group on Pay Equity and Living Wage

• Chair, Stephanie Bornstein (Requests July 3)
• Sara Benedí Lahuerta
• Alex Patrick
• Yvette Pappoe

 

Workshop 4.2

• Raoul Rombouts, Passive Bystanders or Workplace Allies? Bystander’s Presence and Impact in Belgian Equality Bodies’ Case Files
• Zuzana Andreska, The role of organizational ombuds in sexual harassment cases: future of anti-discrimination policies?
• Melanie Schleiger, Power to Prevent: Sexual harassment law reform in Australia and the impact of collective advocacy

 

Workshop 4.3
Organizing a Multi-University Course on Comparative Equality Law

• Panos Kapotas (Chair)
• David Oppenheimer 
• Laura Carlson

 

Workshop 4.4
Freedom of hate (speech) – human dignity as a central object of protection in the prosecution of hate crimes

• Chair, Nataša Posel 
• Sergeja Hrvatič
• Barbara Rajgelj
• Gal Gračanin

 

Workshop 4.5

• Christoph Garbers and Aisha Adam, Equality in Crisis: Success and Failure in the Most Unequal Society in the World 
• Elsabé Huysamen, Indirect Discrimination and Affirmative Action in South African Employment Law: Reconciling Tensions in the Pursuit of Transformative Equality
• Cathi Albertyn, The Evolution of Constitutional Equality Norm in South Africa and Its Influences on Equality Law 

 

Workshop 4.6

• Helen Meenan, ‘Do you know where you’re going to?’ Reflecting on the evolution of age discrimination Law in the European Union
• Virginia Marturet, Challenges of the Power of the New Longevity: A ge discrimination in the workplace, and more, in Argentina. 
• Clément Lanier, A Specific Ground: Age Discrimination Before the ECJ and the  ECtHR

 

Workshop 4.7

• Shahab Saqib, Anti-Discrimination Law as an Ideology
• Vanessa Bliecke, Formal, substantive and inclusive Equality The understanding of equality as a tool to combat stereotypes
• Venera Protopapa & Lilla Farkas, European responses to autocratic attacks against marginalised groups: a hierarchy of protection?

 

3:15 PM Coffee Break

 

3:30 PM
Plenary Panel 3
25 Years of the Prohibition of Discrimination Based on Disability, an Evolving Scope of Protection

• Marie Spinoy (Chair)
• Lucy-Ann Buckley
• Petra Foubert
• Lisa Waddington

 

5:00 PM
Workshop Period 5 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 5.1
Is the Pendulum Always in the Middle? The Use of General Evidence and Tort  Law for A Balanced Enforcement of Anti-Discrimination Law

• Sara Vancleef (Chair)
• Ilse Samoy
• Michelle Schouteden
• Petra Foubert
• Marie Spinoy
• Wannes Vandenbussche

 

Workshop 5.2

• Micheline Lee, The Inclusive Equality model, Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the significance of sexuality in the struggle for equality
• Sergio Sulmicelli, “Not a grave”! Substantive Equality for People Living with HIV/AIDS: Proactive Measures to Fight Stigma
• Bostjan Vernik Setinc, The right to vote for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities

 

Workshop 5.3

• Ramona Vijeyarasa, Is there a right to equitable paid parental leave for mothers and fathers? A view from international and EU law
• Jule Mulder, The dialogue between the Courts- revisited: An analysis of the CJEU case on the religious discrimination and the legal developments in the Member States

 

Workshop 5.4

• Cathérine Van de Graaf and Beril Önder, Article 14 under review: Investigating the lack of systematic review of discrimination complaints by the ECtHR
• Sarah Schoentjes, Intersectionality, discrimination, and structural oppression in the ECtHR case law on reproductive violence
• Selin Altay, Bringing Reproductive Justice to the Judgements of ECtHR through Polymorphous Queer Biokinships

 

Workshop 5.5

• Natalie Sheard, The Regulation of AI Technologies in the Workplace Through Positive Equality Duties
• Lior Volinz & Iva Ramuš Cvetkovič, Weaponizing anti-Discrimination law – how a controversial definition of anti-Semitism shields Israel from accountability

 

Workshop 5.6
Round Table: Visions for the Future of National Equality Laws

• Prof. Mark Bell (Chair)
• Dr. Esther Janssen 
• Dr. Alexandra Timmer
• Dr. Karin de Vries 
• Dr. Judy Walsh

 

6:30 PM Cocktails and Dinner

 

 

Friday, July 4 (Central European Time)

10:00 AM
Plenary 4 Panel 
Reinforcing equality: the evolving role of standards for equality bodies

• Daris José Lewis Recio (Chair)
• Tena Simonovic Einwalter 
• Jim Fitzgerald
• Tamas Kadar

 

11:15 AM Coffee Break

 

11:30 AM
Workshop Period 5 (6 parallel sessions)

Workshop 6.1

• Carla Spinelli and Arianna Abbasciano, Strengthening gender equality through local governance: The GenereInComune pilot project in the Puglia region, Italy
• Yun-Hao Hsin, Balancing Protection and Autonomy: The Development of Regulations on Protecting Female Seafarers under the Seafarer Act of Taiwan
• Aminayanasam Tekena-Fubara, Reforming Equality Law to Address Gender Inequality in Nigerian and Cameroonian Boardrooms

 

Workshop 6.2

• Eva Brems, Procedural obligations in the case law of an Equality Body: The Dutch Human Rights College and the ‘careful handling of complaints’
• Kim Rubenstein, Dismantling structural and systemic inequalities perpetuating inequality – the role of Job-sharing Representatives in Deliberative Bodies of Power
• Meghan Finn, Hidden Biases, Clear Harms: South African Equality Law’s Response to Algorithmic Discrimination

 

Workshop 6.3

• Katarzyna Sękowska-Kozłowska, Education against Gender-Based Violence: Lessons Learned from the GRIEVIO Baseline Evaluation
• Danai Nikolakopoulou, Bearing the burden: examining the implementation of EU law on workplace sexual harassment in Greece 
• Davide Tomaselli, Whose (R)evolution? At What Cost? EU Equality Law Reviewed Through a Queer Materialist Lens

 

Workshop 6.4

• Sophie Girardini, What is a “good mother” and what a “bad mother”? Analysing the European Court of Human Rights approach to compounded stereotypes on motherhood 
• Caroline Joelle Nwabueze, European Regional Courts and Liberalism in Religious Controversies: Which yardstick for equality at workplace? A Comparative Analysis with the National Industrial Court of Nigeria
• Jane Calderwood Norton, Political opinion and discrimination law in New Zealand

 

Workshop 6.5
Book Talk: Equality’s Guardians

• Niels Petersen (Chair)
• Tainá Garcia Maia 
• Shubhangi Roy 
• Kelley Loper 

 

Workshop 6.6

• Michael George Marcondes Smith, Linguistic discrimination and the linguistics of discrimination: intersections between equality law and language
• Karin de Vries, What about nationality? In search of an account of nationality discrimination
• Nicolás Rodríguez Rioseco, ‘International Law and Nationality as an accepted characteristic of discrimination in border control’

 

12:45 PM Lunch

 

2:00 PM
Town Hall meeting on the future of the Center, Part 2 (Discussion Leader: David Oppenheimer)

 

3:00 PM
Plenary Panel 5
Prearranged Panel: Transformative equality in practice: gender representation, equal pay and crisis response

• Panos Kapota (Chair)
• Linda Senden
• Elena Ghidoni
• Mariangela D’Acri
• Dolores Morondo Taramundi
• Anju Anna John

 

4:15 PM
Closing Remarks

 

 

Conference Theme

The (R)evolution of Equality Law: Reflecting on 25 Years of Anti-Discrimination Law in Europe & Beyond

The adoption of the Employment Equality Directive (2000/78/EC) and the Race Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) in 2000 marked a transformative moment in the EU’s commitment to combatting discrimination and promoting equality. These directives – followed by other legislation in subsequent years – established a robust yet broad and general legal framework prohibiting discrimination on grounds including race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, gender, and sexual orientation using a variety of conceptual tools to challenge discrimination in employment, social protection, education, and access to goods and services.

However, since the implementation of these directives, the realization of the full vision of EU law and policy in this field has faced significant challenges. The EU’s legal framework often struggles to capture the complexities of intersecting identities, such as multiple and intersectional discrimination, based on several protected grounds. Moreover, while the directives address overt and localized instances of discrimination, they perhaps remain less equipped to dismantle structural and systemic inequalities that perpetuate disadvantage across different social spheres and generations. Profound changes in the technological landscape, particularly the emergence and mainstreaming of different manifestations of artificial intelligence, have raised new questions concerning equality and anti-discrimination.

The commemoration of 25 years of this (r)evolution of anti-discrimination law in Europe and beyond presents an opportune moment to reflect on the achievements, limitations, and future potential of equality law globally.