An important aspect of anti-discrimination law is the measures which enable persons to bring discrimination claims and enforce their rights under the Equality Directives.
All the of the Equality Directives (the Race, Framework and Gender Directives) require Member States to ensure that there are judicial and/or administrative procedures for the enforcement of the obligations under the Directives.
In relation to the discrimination claims, an important principle which applies in relation to the discrimination claims, an important principle which applies to all forms of discrimination is the burden of proof.
The Race and Framework Directives require that:
In other words, the burden of proof will shift to the respondent, once the claimant has proved facts from which discrimination can be presumed. The reason this procedure was introduced is because discrimination claims can be very hard to prove. It was therefore considered appropriate to specify in the Equality Directives how the burden of proof should operate for discrimination claims in all the Member States.
You may access previous seminar papers on this subject matter here.
Finally, the Race and Framework Directives require Member States to set out the rules on sanctions for the infringement of the national laws implementing the Directives. The sanctions may consist of payment of compensation to the victim or other measures such as requiring the organisation to change its policies or practices. The sanctions must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
You may access previous seminar papers on this subject matter here.