Ethnic origin and disability data collection in Europe : measuring inequality-combating discrimination

Abstract

The term “equality data” in this report denotes all types of disaggregated data used to assess the comparative situation of a specific group at risk of discrimination collected using various techniques, including public statistics, administrative registers, surveys, internal monitoring by enterprises or public administrations, data from the judicial system, and data on complaints to equality bodies.1 Europeanantidiscriminationlawcannot be effectively implementedwithout collecting equality data because data are essential to measure inequalities, to target social policies and monitor implementation as well as to design remedies including positive action measures. Nobody in Europe seems to disagree with this axiom, and this logic is not questioned where gender and age are concerned. Gender and age data are readily available for all sorts of purposes. For instance, the 2012 Commission proposal aiming to improve the gender balance among nonexecutive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges2 is based on data about the lack of women in management positions, while legal challenges, whether before national courts or reaching the European level, are often based on gender and age data. However, not all grounds protected under European antidiscrimination law benefit from such data. It is mandatory to collect disability data both at the national and the EU level following the ratification by both Member States and the European Union itself of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).3 Despite this, disability categories are often medicalized and it has not yet been established which data sets can best be used to indicate inequalities and inform policy making. In contrast, it is often claimed that data are not collected on the basis of ethnic origin, while data revealing ethnic origin are available not on the basis of self-identification butthrough proxies, such as migration status and language proficiency. On the one hand, due to the lack of (proper) data, measures countering discrimination on the grounds of disability and ethnic origin must be based on something other than statistical facts. On the other hand, the lack of data on these grounds deprives people with disabilities or an ethnic minority background of the tools needed to challenge discrimination. It is doubtful whether the European Union can measure the progress made by the implementation of the antidiscrimination directives, while it appears next to impossible to gauge the impact of EU-funded projects targeting disability and ethnic minority communities.