Fighting Housing Discrimination in Europe

ABSTRACT

There is no exact European equivalent to the U.S. Fair Housing Act. The member states of the European Union (EU) have transposed into law the EU Racial Equality Directive of 2000 that prohibits discrimination in, among other things, access to the supply of goods and services, including housing, on the basis of race. Most housing discrimination case law so far comes from nonbinding decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and European Committee of Social Rights under the revised European Social Charter of the Council of Europe. This article explains how the European context of discrimination and segregation differs from the American, reviews the major legal conventions establishing equal rights in housing, protected classes, and key precedents. It discusses how mixing policies in social housing are the primary mechanism to reduce residential segregation in Europe. The special case of extreme discrimination against the Roma is presented, before concluding with some comparative observations.     

歧视知觉对社区矫正对象社会疏离的影响机制研究——基于身份认同整合和社会支持的中介效应

社区矫正对象的社会疏离关乎个体发展和社会稳定，是推进平安中国建设的重 要内容。基于2019年S市社区矫正对象的调查数据，从身份认同整合和社会支持视角，探究歧视知觉对社区矫正对象社会疏离的影响机制。研究发现，歧视知觉对社区矫正对象的社会疏离既存在直接影响，也通过身份认同整合和社会支持两个中介变量产生间接影响。身份认同整合和社会支持在歧视知觉与社会疏离之间起到自我转化和外在保护的作用。因此，在外在歧视无法完全消除之下，为了缓解社区矫正对象的社会疏离，应注重提升个体的自我身份认同整合，增强社区矫正对象的有益支持，从而促进其顺利回归社会。     

Yesterday's war; tomorrow's technology: peer commentary on ‘Ethical,legal, social and policy issues in the use of genomic technologies by the US military’

A recent article by Maxwell J. Mehlman and Tracy Yeheng Li, in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, sought to examine the ethical, legal, social, and policy issues associated with the use of genetic screening and germ-line therapies (‘genomic technologies’) by the US Military. In this commentary, we will elaborate several related matters: the relationship between genetic and non-genetic screening methods, the history of selection processes and force strength, and the consequences and ethics of, as Mehlman and Li suggest, engineering enhanced soldiers. We contend, first, that the strengths of genomic testing as a method of determining enrollment in the armed forces has limited appeal, given the state of current selection methods in the US armed forces. Second, that the vagaries of genetic selection, much like other forms of selection that do not bear causally or reliably on soldier performance (such as race, gender, and sexuality), pose a systematic threat to force strength by limiting the (valuable) diversity of combat units. Third, that the idea of enhancing warfighters through germ-line interventions poses serious ethical issues in terms of the control and ownership of ‘enhancements’ when members separate from service.     

The problems of liminal states,line drawing,and false dichotomies

This commentary focuses on the tenuous line between health and disease and the conflicting characterizations of genetic predisposition that sometimes place it on one side of that line, and sometimes on the other. For example, GINA uses the line between health and disease to distinguish between, respectively, the healthy (including, those with genetic predispositions), who are shielded from discrimination, and those with ‘manifested illness,’ who are not. At the same time, some have argued that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects individuals with genetic predispositions, relying on a label akin to disability, as opposed to health, to characterize this group. Similarly, courts have described genetic predisposition as a disease of sorts to justify insurance payment for medical intervention. Attempts to fit genetic predisposition neatly into the binary world of health or illness can be problematic because this dichotomy doesn''t capture the complex continuum between those states. Some individuals reside in yet another ‘liminal’ state when they develop mild symptoms or biomarkers, placing them somewhere between genetic predisposition and actual disease manifestation. As a result, they may be unprotected under existing frameworks. Liminal states are therefore problematic not only with respect to insurance reimbursement, but in other areas as well.     

反就业歧视的法律思考

作为国际社会的重要成员,我国批准、加入了一系列禁止歧视的国际公约,但由于种种原因,就业歧视已成为我国当前一个突出的社会问题。解决这一问题,除了传统观念的更新、相关制度的变革外,主要还得从法律制度上着手,借鉴国际反歧视立法之成功经验,构建适合中国国情的反就业歧视法律制度。     

我国禁止就业歧视若干法律问题

反对和禁止就业歧视是促进就业的突出和重要的内容。在《中华人民共和国就业促进法(草案)》向社会公开征求意见的大背景下,对就业歧视问题进行研究和探讨具有重要的意义。我国现行禁止就业歧视法律规范存在诸多问题,建议采取制定《反就业歧视》,成立专门解决就业歧视问题的机构,确立工会在反歧视中的职责,加强国家和政府责任等措施禁止就业歧视。     

辽宁地区汉族成人切牙、侧切牙、尖牙的性别差异

本文用自动显示游标卡尺，对中国辽宁地区汉族成人切牙、侧切牙、尖牙（508颗）的根长、冠长、冠宽、颈宽、冠厚及颈厚六项指标进行了测量，得到了辽宁地区汉族成人切牙、侧切牙及尖牙的这六项指标的测量值，与王惠芸的测量结果进行了比较，并阐明了切牙、侧切牙及尖牙的性别差异。     

Women's views on affirmative action: A new look at preferential treatment

The first part of this paper sketches a profile of women who endorse affirmative action, showing that women who approve of affirmative action identify with a nontraditional image of women and experience discontent when perceiving discrimination on the basis of sex. We also examine the impact of the implementing procedure. Studies conducted with French-Canadian women show that those who fit the above profile readily endorse equal opportunity policies. What about policies that advocate preferential treatment? Early studies indicated that women did not endorse these policies. Recent studies, however, revealed a dramatic change in the pattern of responses. Women who were dissatisfied with their collective situation and identified with a nontraditional image of their group predominantly approved of preferential treatment. What factors triggered this change in attitudes? Are the merit principle and preferential treatment policies truly incompatible? We address these questions in the second part of this paper as well as the implications of this shift in attitudes.