This thesis is aimed on the social phenomenon of conscientious objection, its theoretical perception as a legal concept and application in the real world, in particular by the supranational protection of human rights in the European area. Priority concern will be given to the transposition of the general assessments to the special "habitat" of EU law. The basis of the study is built on an analysis of definitions and categories refined by the doctrine and reinforced by the roots of natural law, both of which also serve to determine the methodology and legal perception of conscientious objection. A short study of the Czech law then follows to "pump the theory in legal veins". Large part of the thesis addresses the case law adopted by the European Court of Human Rights which serves as an inspiration and authority for the Union and its Member States. Abstracting the main trends in ECtHR reasoning the thesis draws basic limits laid down by the international protection. It also concludes that the Convention (ECHR) does not preclude developing its own pro or contra- objection approach by the EU institutions. It is, however, supposed to have a great impact on the Unions' legal "technique" in the field of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In the context of EU law the special nature of the...

The aim of this essay is to investigate how a demarcation is made between employees’ right to religious freedom next to employers’ interest in running their enterprise in an efficient way. Case law shows that the Arrowsmith-principle forum internum and forum externum could be used when a demarcation has to be made. Furthermore, case law shows that that the employee—when accepting a contract of employment—have accepted certain restrictions of his or her religious freedom. When the employee later on isn’t willing to fulfill duties stated in the contract—due to his or her religious beliefs—it has been defined as labor refusal. However, it seems as though The Court has come to develop a nuanced view on the matter, arguing in the case of Eweida v the United Kingdom for restrictions—when made on employee’s freedom of religion—to be proportionate. Case law further shows that religious beliefs are not protected when they’re challenging other fundamental rights such as protection from discrimination due to sexual orientation. Conflict has surfaced when religious employees were unable to shake hands with employers of the opposite sex, asked for time to pray during working hours and requested to wear a headscarf or a turban at work. The essay also investigates the Swedish legal case ”handskakningsfallet” where the religious manifestation was decided on the basis of direct discrimination. However, the essay finds strong reasons for such manifestations to be assessed in relation to indirect discrimination, which would enable for proportionate assessments. Furthermore, such assessments would pave way for fair and correct judgements when investigating if one has been discriminated or not.   Lastly the essay highlights the importance of making such proportionate assessment stated above when deciding if religious interests should be protected or not on the labour market to enable a fair balance between all interests. / Uppsatsen undersöker hur gränsdragningen görs när arbetstagare vill nyttja sin religionsfrihet i relation till arbetsgivares intresse att på ett effektivt sätt leda och fördela arbetet. Arrowsmith-principen vad gäller forum internum och externum kan användas vägledande vid sådana gränsdragningar. Rättspraxis visar vidare att anställningsavtalet tillmäts stor betydelse och att arbetstagaren vid ingående av avtal får anses sig ha underkastat sig de regler och krav avtalet ställer. När arbetstagaren sålunda har vägrat att utföra de arbetsuppgifter som faller inom ramen för anställningen med hänvisning till sin religiösa tro har detta bedömts vara arbetsvägran. Europadomstolen synes dock ha utvecklat en mer nyanserad syn i frågan och motiverar i fallet Eweida mot Storbritannien för vikten av en proportionalitetsbedömning när religionsfriheten begränsas i anställningsförhållandet. Vidare visar rättspraxis att religiösa åskådningar inte skyddas när de utmanar andra mänskliga rättigheter, såsom exempelvis skyddet mot diskriminering p.g.a. sexuell läggning.  Konflikt har uppstått när religiösa arbetstagare inte kunnat ta arbetsgivare av det motsatta könet i hand, velat be på arbetstid samt velat bära slöja eller turban på arbetsplatsen. Uppsatsen undersöker också ”handskakningsfallet” och övervägande skäl talar för att frågan om religiösa manifestationer torde bedömas utifrån indirekt diskriminering. Proportionalitetsbedömningar torde på ett rättvist och korrekt sätt avgöra om diskriminering ligger för handen eller inte.  Avslutningsvis betonar uppsatsen vikten av proportionalitetsbedömningar i varje enskilt fall för att avgöra om religiösa intressen ska skyddas respektive inte skyddas på arbetsmarknaden för att sålunda uppnå en balans mellan samtliga intressen.

Government figures put the current indigenous unemployment rate at around 23%, 3 times the unemployment rate for other Australians. This thesis aims to assess whether Australian indirect discrimination legislation can provide a remedy for one of the causes of indigenous unemployment - the systemic discrimination which can result from the mere operation of established procedures of recruitment and hiring. The impact of those practices on indigenous people is examined in the context of an analysis of anti-discrimination legislation and cases from all Australian jurisdictions from the time of the passing of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Commonwealth in 1975 to the present. The thesis finds a number of reasons why the legislation fails to provide equality of opportunity for indigenous people seeking to enter the workforce. In nearly all jurisdictions it is obscurely drafted, used mainly by educated middle class white women, and provides remedies which tend to be compensatory damages rather than change to recruitment policy. White dominance of the legal process has produced legislative and judicial definitions of "race" and "Aboriginality" which focus on biology rather than cultural difference. In the commissions and tribunals complaints of racial discrimination are often rejected on the grounds of being "vexatious" or "frivolous", not reaching the required standard of proof, or not showing a causal connection between race and the conduct complained of. In all jurisdictions the cornerstone of liability is whether a particular employment term, condition or practice is reasonable. The thesis evaluates the approaches taken by appellate courts, including the High Court, and concludes that there is a trend towards an interpretation of reasonableness which favours employer arguments such as economic rationalism, the maintenance of good industrial relations, managerial prerogative to hire and fire, and the protection of majority rights. The thesis recommends that separate, clearly drafted legislation should be passed to address indigenous disadvantage and that indigenous people should be involved in all stages of the process.

Zambia has ratified vital international conventions that promote the rights of PWDs and domesticated some of them in various legislatures and policies. However, access to the built environment for PWDs does not seem to be improving. There is, therefore, a need to understand the challenges that the Zambian legal framework that regulates the design of the built environment faces in ensuring adequate access to the built environment for PWDs. This study explored Zambia's legal framework that regulates the designing of the built environment for sufficiency in ensuring adequate access to the built environment for PWD. The study is a qualitative descriptive case study of the said legal framework. The study reviewed Zambia’s architecture, equality and disability laws from 2012 to the present from a socio-legal perspective. They were then analysed by transformative equality principles for accessibility. It has been established that the legal framework in Zambia is not sufficient to ensure adequate access to the built environment for PWDs.

In the year of 2013, Swedish media accused the Swedish police for the implementation of discriminatory internal controls of foreigners, in Malmö, Stockholm and other places across Sweden. The controls were soon to be linked to project REVA. In this thesis, I examine how the internal controls of foreigners measure up to the Swedish Aliens act and whether or not the accusations of discriminatory controls against individuals with a perceived foreign appearance, are correct. The examination includes a legal approach, where I use practical legal method to analyze the provisions of the Aliens act, as well as an evolving conceptual approach, where I evolve the concept of discrimination in order to apply it to the controls. I found that it is possible to link project REVA to the external work with the internal controls of foreigners, despite the denial from people involved. I also found that, because of unclear regulations regarding the implementation of the internal controls of foreigners, it is not possible to assess how the controls measure up to the Swedish Aliens act. Some of the controls, most probably, can be identified as directly and indirectly discriminatory. The problem with this statement is the difficulty to measure police officers decision-making in order to confirm the discriminatory behavior. However, I argue that it is possible to claim that the Aliens act might be indirectly discriminatory. The results of this thesis indicate that the Swedish police should review their practices regarding internal controls of foreigners.

Šiame darbe yra analizuojami darbo teisiniai santykiai ir teisės normos reguliuojančios diskriminacijos dėl lyties draudimą sudarant ar nutraukiant darbo santykius. Siekiant kuo išsamiau atskleisti šią temą pirmiausiai yra nagrinėjamas lygybės principas, iš kurio yra kildinamas diskriminacijos draudimo (nediskriminacinis) principas, kuris yra įtvirtintas tiek Lietuvos, tiek tarptautiniuose teisės aktuose. Lygybės ir diskriminacijos draudimo principais draudžiama taikyti skirtingus įdarbinimo kriterijus, skirtingas darbo sąlygas, atleidimo iš darbo pagrindus, tokius pat santykius vertinti skirtingai dėl aplinkybių, kurios nesusijusios su darbuotojo dalykinėmis savybėmis. Diskriminacija darbo teisinių santykių srityje yra suprantama kaip bet koks lygias darbo ir profesinės veiklos galimybes ir lygiateisius santykius pažeidžiantis arba panaikinantis išskyrimas, apribojimas ar pranašumo teikimas. Kitaip tariant, bet koks skirtingas darbuotojų traktavimas dėl jų lyties, kurio pasekmės – nelygios teisės darbo santykiuose, pvz. : tam tikros darbo sąlygos, paaukštinimas pareigose, kvalifikacijos kėlimas yra laikomas diskriminacija. Toliau aptariami nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai antidiskriminaciniai įstatymai. Diskriminacijos dėl lyties draudimą Lietuvoje numato 1998 m. gruodžio 1 d. įsigaliojęs Moterų ir vyrų lygių galimybių įstatymas kuris buvo priimtas, siekiant įgyvendinti 2006 m. liepos 5 d. Europos Parlamento ir Tarybos direktyvą 2006/54/EB dėl... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This paper analyzes the legal labour relations and the laws, regulating the prohibition of gender discrimination in establishing or terminating the labour relations. In order to reveal this theme in as more details as possible, first the principle of equality is examined, where the prohibition of discrimination (discriminatory) principle is derived from. The latter is established in both Lithuanian and international law. The principles of equality and non-discrimination allows the application of different employment criteria, different working conditions, bases of dismissal from work, to treat the same relations differently due to the circumstances, unrelated with employee’s professional characteristics. Discrimination in the field of legal labour relations is understood as any exclusion, restriction or superiority, violating or voiding the equal employment and career opportunities, and the equal relations. In other words, any different treatment of employees because of their gender, the consequences of which include unequal rights in labour relations, for example, certain working conditions, promotion, training, is considered as discrimination. The paper also discusses a number of persons, who are subject to protection against gender discrimination, in legal labour relations. It should be noted that it includes all the persons, belonging to the following groups of labour relations category: employees, self-employed persons, persons, who wish to occupy a vacancy... [to full text]

Indirect discrimination against contractors in public tenders ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the legal regulation of public procurement and focuses on the issues of indirect discrimination of contractors in public tenders and the fact that some economic operators cannot participate in procurement procedures due to unjust obstacles to competition laid down by the contracting authorities. One of the main principles of procurement, principle of non-discrimination is described in detail with a use of opinions of stated by the national courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union and in the decisions of the Office for the Protection of Competition in particular. The author of the thesis tries to describe the means of indirect discrimination that occurred in the past procurement procedures within the area of European Union. Discriminatory behavior of the contracting authorities is captured in a comprehensible way and the author shows practical examples to the reader. That all helps to illustrate why the contracting authority's specific behavior was not in compliance with the rules set out in public procurement. It is the analysis of the decision-making practice of the Office for the Protection of Competition, case-law of the national courts and the European Court of Justice that provides an insight into...

Indirect discrimination is one form of discrimination according to the Swedish diskrimineringslag (2008:567). This type of discrimination is a more abstract form than direct discrimination. The direct discrimination-form is the one where one person is intending to discriminate another person because of that person belonging to a group protected against discrimination by the law. Indirect discrimination on the other hand is when one person is discriminated because of a policy or a rule that is not intending to be discriminating. This makes this form of discrimination much harder to see and make visible, that is because the intention is not needed. In this thesis the focus is indirect discrimination and how the state have a responsibility to prevent that indirect discrimination occur. To make it easier to see the indirect discrimination and who is being subject for it, this thesis is using a structural discrimination theory to provide what is missing in the law. By using this theory, this thesis argue that the state is taking less responsibility and puts the responsibility on the single managers of institutions instead. The duty of the state is thereby hard to show and makes the law difficult to use from a structural discrimination perspective.

v anglickém jazyce The thesis deals with the right to education in the European system of the protection of human rights. It examines theoretical approaches to judicial protection of the right to education. It compares the right to education in the European system of the protection of human rights with the United Nations' human rights protection and the human rights protection system with the system of the Organization of American States. The thesis shows the development of the right to education through the general commends and recommendations and views of the UN human rights committees and through judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The thesis analysis six cases of violation of the right to education of ethnic minorities, namely the D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic, Sampanis v. Greece, Oršuš v. Croatia, Sampani v. Greece, Horváth and Kiss v. Hungary and Lavida v. Greece. These cases show that the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights stating the violation of the right to education and the award of the symbolic just satisfaction are not sufficient for the effective protection of the right to education of ethnic minorities. The paper shows that violation of the right to education of ethnic minorities are always related to racial discrimination. This fact must be taken...

The theme of the thesis An Implementation of the Policy on Equal Opportunities in Lithuania is relevant and important, because the implementation of this policy in Lithuania is highly associated with adoption of Western democratic values, integration into Western international organizations and striving to achieve international communities set the standards in fields of human rights and equal opportunities.