Discrimination: Ataman defends equal treatment plan | STERN.de

The independent anti-discrimination commissioner Ferda Ataman has defended her proposals for the reform of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) against criticism from the FDP.

“Unfortunately, there is a long tradition in Germany of portraying people who have experienced discrimination as cranks who only imagine it,” Ataman told the editorial network Germany. “Anyone who talks like this plays down discrimination, which can have existential consequences for many people,” she added.

criticism of the proposals

Ataman, the Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, presented a basic paper on the reform of the AGG on Tuesday. However, a draft law would have to come from the house of Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP).

Ataman wants to make it easier to prove discrimination. In their paper it says: “The requirement to prove discrimination and circumstantial evidence should be reduced to credibility, which means that the overwhelming probability is sufficient.”

Buschmann’s party colleague Katrin Helling-Plahr had criticized the proposals. “Ms. Ataman’s paper is social explosives and sows uncertainty everywhere,” said the FDP legal expert of “Bild”.

Demand for “more objectivity in the discussion”

Ataman called for “more objectivity in the discussion” in the RND. Contrary to what is claimed, her proposal does not include a reversal of the burden of proof: “It remains the case that a person concerned must present facts and a court must decide whether discrimination has taken place. So in the blue no one can claim to have been discriminated against and successfully complain,” she said.

“My demand is only about a clarification of the valid legal situation that a easing of the burden of proof is possible – for example through affidavits, testing procedures or statistics.” Such “credibility” corresponds to European law and has been part of the explanatory memorandum to the AGG since 2006.