Equal treatment Mer

The right to be equal before the law and the protection against discrimination are fundamental human rights guaranteed by international conventions, the EU Treaty, the Swedish Constitution and, on a more concrete level, the Swedish Discrimination Act.

Allocation of quotas or positive discrimination (affirmative action) constitutes discrimination. This has been established in a number of cases taken to court by Centrum för rättvisa. In 2006, the Swedish Supreme Court found that the allocation of quotas based on ethnic background, when a person with better qualifications is put at a disadvantage, is illegal. The following year courts established that the same applies for allocation of quotas based on gender. Allocation of quotas has since been abolished for universities in Sweden.

However, two out of three universities base the selection of candidates with equal grades on gender. Irrelevant or inappropriate, yes – but is it also illegal? Centrum för rättvisa is bringing new cases to national courts that will provide the answers.