(L-R) Nathalie Morgenthaler, director of the CET; Patrick Hurst, President of the CET; Corinne Cahen, Minister of Family and Integration; Credit: MFAMIGR

On Tuesday 3 May 2022, Centre for Equal Treatment (CET) presented its annual report, in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen.

In 2021, among the 245 cases handled by CET, 60 cases had race or ethnic origin as the ground for discrimination, 48 disability, 43 sex, ten age, nine sexual orientation and nine religion. In addition, sixteen cases belonged to the category “multiple discrimination” and 50 to the category “other”.

124 cases have been resolved and nineteen cases are still ongoing. In 55 cases the petitioners withdrew while in 41 cases there was no way to prove any form of discrimination, and in six cases there was no right of intervention.

The CET also systematically analysed the job offers published in 2021 and identified 82 instances where the job offer did not respect equal treatment. 78 offers discriminated on the basis of sex, three on the basis of age and sex, and one on the basis of age.

Racial discrimination on the rise in 2021

The CET detailed and explained these figures during the presentation of its annual report to Minister Cahen. The president of the CET, Patrick Hurst, explained that, in 2021, it was the first time that the most recurring ground of discrimination was not disability, but ethnic origin and skin color.

In this context, the study "Racism and ethno-racial discrimination in Luxembourg" by the Centre for Intercultural and Social Studies and Training (Centre d’étude et de formation interculturelles et sociales - CEFIS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) in close collaboration with the Department of Integration of the Ministry of Family, Integration and the Greater Region, also underlined the importance of services, such as the CET, which are a point of contact for people who are victims of racial discrimination.

Minister Cahen thanked the CET, which is an important and complementary partner in the fight against all kinds of discrimination and which helps to strengthen the rights of discriminated people.

About the Centre for Equal Treatment (CET)

Created by the law of 28 November 2006, the CET is committed to promoting, analysing and monitoring equal treatment between all people without discrimination based on race or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability and age.