High Commissioner takes part in ECRI’s 2022 seminar

The ECRI’s annual seminar, which was attended by the High Commissioner, took place on 26 September in Strasbourg, on the theme “can intersectionality contribute to effective equality ?”.

With cases of discrimination becoming increasingly complex, the debate focused on using the concept of “intersectionality” as a new way of understanding the interaction between different forms of discrimination and combating their effects, illustrated by numerous real-world experiences. The discussions showed that an intersectional response not only paves the way for public policies and action plans that are complementary and therefore more effective, but that it can also help to guide judicial decisions. It can also be enshrined in law, although this is still rarely the case.

The difficulties with using this concept in practice were also discussed, such as the lack of statistics on individuals’ experiences of multiple discrimination.

More generally, a consensus emerged around the need for human rights institutions to incorporate this more holistic approach to discrimination into their actions on a more systematic basis.