Cette thèse analyse la dérogation que constitue l’action positive par rapport au principe de l’égalité de traitement, en droit de l’Union européenne. Défini comme une interdiction de discriminer sur le fondement d’un certain nombre de motifs, le principe d’égalité a pourtant vu se multiplier les régimes destinés à écarter son application, dans le droit dérivé qui assure sa mise en œuvre dans les États membres. Parmi ces différents régimes, l’action positive peut permettre l’adoption de traitements référentiels, entre autres mesures, pour les catégories discriminées de la société, afin de remédier aux désavantages qu’elles connaissent, notamment sur le marché du travail. Elle trouve sa légitimité dans un objectif concurrent à celui de l’égalité de traitement par l’indifférenciation de la norme juridique, l’égalité des chances. L’action positive représente donc la seule dérogation à l’égalité justifiée par l’égalité. Cette situation atypique est source de confusion quant à son sens, sa portée et son utilité, dans l’ordre juridique de l’Union comme dans d’autres systèmes. Cette thèse propose des pistes de réflexion pour émanciper l’action positive de la logique dérogatoire qui limite son développement, tout en démontrant son utilité en tant qu’outil de lutte active contre les discriminations et d’intégration sur le marché intérieur dans des conditions égalisées. Elle invite également à dépasser les approches polémiques d’une notion méconnue et souvent dévoyée en France. / This thesis studies the derogatory status of positive action under European Union law, from the principle of equal treatment. Although the principle of equal treatment means that there shall be no discrimination on several prohibited grounds, numerous derogatory and specific regimes, meant to prevent application of this principle, can be found in the secondary legislation implementing it in the member States. Among these various regimes, positive action allows the adoption of preferential treatments for discriminated categories in society, to compensate for the disadvantages they encounter, especially in the labor market. Its legitimacy is founded in the notion of equal opportunities, which competes with the objective of equal treatment by preventing differentiation in norms. Positive action is thus the only derogation from equality justified by equality. This peculiar situation creates a lot of inconsistencies about its meaning, scope, and use, in the European Union legal system and others. This thesis suggests some ways to overcome the derogatory perspective of positive action which restricts its development, while underlining how it represents a useful tool to combat discriminations, favouring integration into internal market on equalized conditions. It also invites to go beyond controversial approaches of a misunderstood and often distorted notion in France.

Yes / : This article is based on a large-scale European Commission project on international perspectives on positive action measures. The paper presents an analysis of the perceptions of positive action held by respondents from all the countries participating in an international survey, focussing specifically upon differences across equality grounds, sector and organisation type. This paper will also provide examples of positive action being applied in European and non-European countries that participated in the study. The study adopted extensive literate and online survey to obtain data from designers of positive action. Findings are discussed, conclusions drawn and wide-ranging recommendations are made at the European Commission, individual countries and organisational levels.

This paper highlights some ofthe methodological challenges which have arisen in collecting data for an international study on positive action measures. It will describe strategies employed to encourage participation in the study from as wide a range of organisations and individuals using a mixed method approach. The paper will also discuss the methodological and sensitive issues related to this type of research in organisations and strategies adopted by the research team to ameliorate any problems that have arisen whilst maintaining trustworthiness and rigour in the study.

Yes / Around the world, inequalities exist around boundaries of race, social class, gender, disability, religious beliefs and sexual orientation, often resulting from past and current discriminatory practices. Governments have taken certain measures, including enacting policies such as positive action, to remedy such discrimination. This paper provides a comparative analysis of perceptions of the impact of positive action in seven EU and three non-EU countries. The study adopted participatory methods including consensus workshops, interviews and policy analysis to obtain data from designers of positive action. Findings are discussed, conclusions drawn and wide-ranging recommendations are made at the EC, individual countries and organisational levels.

Affirmative action policies in South Africa and other countries have been designed to address inequity and discrimination, and to manage a wide range of diversity in all spheres of life, particularly after the end of apartheid in 1994. Years after implementing affirmative action in South Africa, perceptions of its impact or even benefit seem to vary from person to person. This article presents the findings from a study utilizing different data sources including document review, interviews, and a consensus workshop on the perceptions of the impact of affirmative action in South Africa. It is part of a larger European Commission–funded comparative study of positive action measures across countries in North America, the European Union, and South Africa. Participants were drawn from different public and private organizational sectors, racial groups, genders, age groups, and people with disabilities. The analyzed data provided insight into how society might be perceiving and reacting to the operation of affirmative action in South Africa.

No / Positive action is a highly contested concept and its meaning varies across states. Law plays a key role in shaping the boundaries of positive action. This paper presents the findings of a comparative study of law and positive action both inside and outside the European Union. It sets out the approach to positive action within European Community (EC) law and, based on that, constructs a legal definition of positive action. It then turns to consider practice at domestic level and uncovers a broad diversity of approaches. The non-EU comparator countries (USA, Canada and South Africa) have been more willing to impose obligations on public and private bodies to engage in positive action than have been the EU Member States considered in this study. Notwithstanding the constraints deriving from EC legislation on positive action measures, there is some evidence of a trend towards duties to take positive action emerging within the EU Member States.

This is a summary of research report for the study on positive action in the European Union. The Centre for Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Bradford was commissioned to lead this fifteen-month project in collaboration with the European Roma Rights Centre and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. The main aim of the study was to examine the role of positive action in preventing or remedying discrimination by comparing the legal frameworks, policies and practices of positive action in Europe, Canada, United States and South Africa.

The hypothesis for this essay is that the protection of age discrimination in the labour market is inferior to that of other grounds of discrimination due to the fact that EU regulations as well as national provisions allows exemptions for age from the non-discrimination principle. A legal method originating from traditional legal sources is used in order to determine the purpose and use of the regulation and illustrate how it could affect younger workers. In addition to legislation, collective agreements are examined and two areas of investigation; the Swedish 67-year rule and vacation benefits, are reviewed in an exemplifying purpose. The juridical inquiry and analysis illustrate, from a national and an EU perspective, the differences of treatment that can be justified on grounds of age as well as the possibility of positive actions and visualises possible consequences. The analysis concludes that the exemptions does not necessarily undermine the protection of age discrimination, but emphasise that there is risk of applying the exemptions even though purpose and measures can be questioned. The latter in relation to the lack of positive actions confirm the initial hypothesis and can affect young workers in a negative way. / Uppsatsen bygger på en hypotes om att ålder intar en svagare ställning på arbetsmarknaden i jämförelse med övriga diskrimineringsgrunder eftersom att det i större utsträckning finns lagregleringar som berättigar särbehandling på grund av ålder. I syfte att utröna regleringens bakomliggande syften och användning samt belysa hur den kan påverka yngre arbetstagare har en rättsvetenskaplig metod med grund i arbetsrättsliga rättskällor tillämpats. Utredning och analys belyser de utrymmen för berättigad särbehandling samt de möjligheter till aktiva åtgärder som klargörs i såväl nationell som EU-lagstiftning och exemplifierar möjliga konsekvenser. Granskningen är till viss del baserad på jämförelser mellan olika kollektivavtal och två undersökningsområden, 67-årsregeln och semesterförmåner, används i ett illustrerande syfte. Analysen visar på att undantagen inte nödvändigtvis underminerar åldersdiskrimineringsskyddet, men att det finns risk för att de används trots att syfte och åtgärder kan ifrågasättas. I kombination med avsaknaden av krav på aktiva åtgärder innebär det att den inledande hypotesen kan anses som bekräftad vilket riskerar att påverka yngre arbetstagare på ett negativt sätt.

<b>Background and problem:</b> It is important for a policy aiming at overcoming discrimination to be justifiable as just or as creating justice. When a policy is implemented lacking such qualities it is argued to be unjust, which creates a problem. During the last decades there has been massive immigration to the Western countries from countries marked by war and disaster. This has created problems of integration into the “new” society, and the use of preferential policies has become increasingly topical. Whether or not the use of preferential policies is a just method is the basis of this thesis. <b>Aim</b>: The aim of this thesis is to study the concept of preferential policies in an impartial perspective of fairness. By impartial it is meant to present facts speaking both for and against preferential policies as being just. The main question of this thesis is whether or not preferential treatment is a just method to create equality within the society. <b>Method</b>: A research method of textual analysis has been used combined with an analysis of structure of arguments. <b>Theoretical framework</b>: First, definitions of discrimination and preferential policies as such are focused upon in the third chapter. Second, the concept of social justice and its connection to preferential policies is treated. The question if preferential policies should be directed towards individuals or groups is a central question in the debate and it will demand its space in this thesis. Here the importance of merit will be discussed. The section about individuals and groups will be followed by a section discussing the importance of ethnic diversity which will be followed by a comparison of the development of preferential policies in the USA and Sweden. Last, there will be a section where an attempt to generalize between arguments is made. <b>Conclusions and Discussion</b>: In this part a conclusion and a discussion will be presented. Here conclusions will be drawn from the gathered material. Finally there will be a discussion on the subject and of how the research procedure has proceeded.

A garantia da igualdade implica a proibição da discriminação. Algumas normas internacionais criaram exceções à proibição de discriminar com o objetivo de permitir a adoção de medidas especiais ou positivas de caráter transitório para acelerar o desenvolvimento e a representação de grupos e categorias que, por motivos discriminatórios, se encontrem em posição de desvantagem diante dos demais. Cabe ao Estado eleger os grupos beneficiários e as medidas de ação afirmativa adequadas para atingir o fim almejado. A constitucionalidade das medidas de ação afirmativa depende da análise em concreto de cada tipo quanto à compatibilidade com os demais direitos e garantias fundamentais por se tratar de medida de exceção quanto à proibição de discriminar. As políticas públicas que incluam medidas de ação afirmativa devem se pautar pelos princípios da razoabilidade e da proporcionalidade, para que a busca da igualdade material não implique o paradoxo de criar novas desigualdades. A política de reserva de vagas por meio de cotas não é o tipo de ação afirmativa mais adequada ao Brasil. As cotas raciais são incompatíveis com a realidade brasileira, carecendo de proporcionalidade na medida em que não se prestam ao fim colimado no tocante ao combate à discriminação e ao preconceito. A formulação de uma política participativa com incentivos à representatividade de grupos sub-representados por meio de metas e cronogramas sem qualquer viés racial tende a atingir melhores resultados sem que o Estado institucionalize a racialização por meio da discriminação reversa. / The equality safeguard implies a ban on discrimination. Some international standards have created exceptions to the ban on discrimination to enable the adoption of special or positive measures, transient in nature, and speed up the development and representation of groups and segments that, because of discrimination, would be at a disadvantage before others. It falls to the government to choose the beneficiaries as well as the appropriate affirmativeaction measures to achieve the desired outcome. The constitutionality of affirmative-action measures depends on a concrete analysis of the compatibility of each type with the other fundamental rights and safeguards since this is an exception to the ban on discrimination. Any policies that include affirmative-action measures must follow the principles of reasonableness and proportionality so that the search for material equality does not entail an inequality-creating paradox. The racial-quota policy is not the appropriate type of affirmative action for Brazil. Racial quotas are incompatible with the Brazilian reality and lack proportionality as they fail to counter discrimination and bigotry. Devising a participatory policy that encourages the representation of underrepresented groups through goals and timetables without any racial bias tends to achieve better results and the government does not have to institutionalize racialization through reverse discrimination.