19.07.2025Contested Equality

Welcome and Introduction to the Conference
Welcoming speech by Prof Dr Thomas Gächter, Dean of the Faculty of Law,
University of Zurich, Switzerland

Introduction to the Conference:
Equality in law and legal scholarship: fair, open, universal, and responsible
Dr Elif Askin, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Panel Discussion:
Dr Nula Frei, Faculty of Law, University of Fribourg
Prof Dr Silvia Suteu, Faculty of Laws, UCL, Great Britain
Prof Dr Matthias Mahlmann, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Prof Dr Daniel Moeckli, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

PANEL 1: IDEAS AND CONCEPTIONS OF EQUALITY

Chair: Prof Dr Francis Cheneval, Department of Philosophy, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Prof András László Pap (Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Hungary)
New agents for ethno-racial equality: identity politics, vulnerabilities, and beyond

Speaker 2: Dr Felix Wükert (European University Viadrina, Germany)
Equality and comparison: the legal use and construction of notions of performance, merit and (dis-)ability

Speaker 3: Dr Jahid Hossain (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Germany)
Law, religion, and equality in India: Muslim personal law perspective

Speaker 4: Taís Penteado (FGV Law School of São Paulo, Brazil)
Articulating (and complicating) the antisubordination principle

PANEL 2: EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION

Chair: Prof Dr Daniel Moeckli, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Vandita Khanna (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
From the margins to the centre of equality law: addressing poverty in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Speaker 3: Justin Jaftha (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa)
The redistribution potential of poverty as an independent ground of discrimination in South African equality law: from a comparative perspective

Speaker 3: Asst Prof Abhinav Mehrotra (Jindal Global Law School, India)
Caste and race linkages: finding the common ground to address discrimination and oppression at international stag

Speaker 4: Dr Cathérine Van de Graaf (University of Cologne, Germany & University of Ghent, Belgium)
Conflicting interests? European national equality bodies acting as (informal) mediators in discrimination complaints

PANEL 3: SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES

Chair: Prof Dr Tilmann Altwicker, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Prof Adam Ploszka (European University Institute, Italy & University of Warsaw, Poland)
Prohibition of discrimination based on an individual's socio-economic status and its hidden potential in protecting the liberal state against populism. Notes based on the case of Poland

Speaker 2: Dr Janine Hicks (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
Advancing access to social security: maternity protection and social justice for women in the informal economy

Speaker 3: Merel Vrancken (Hasselt University, Belgium)
Structural discrimination and segregation in education: disadvantaging the already disadvantaged

PANEL 4: GENDER AND EQUALITY: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

Chair: Prof Dr Sandra Hotz, Faculty of Law, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Dr Agnes Meroka (University of Nairobi, Kenya)
The place of women’s rights in community land in Kenya: limits and opportunities of human rights norms in promoting equality

Speaker 2: Prof Mélanie Levy (University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)
“The walk of shame”: access to emergency contraception in Switzerland. Practical obstacles as a way to discipline the female body and choice

Speaker 3: Ariël Decoster (University of Antwerp & Ghent University, Belgium)
Turning positive action for women into a wolf in sheep’s clothing: a critical deconstruction of the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU

PANEL 5: INEQUALITIES RELATED TO ARMED CONFLICTS

Chair: Nicole Nickerson, MLaw, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Andreas Piperides (University of Glasgow, Scotland)
Not all civilians are created equal: international humanitarian law and class

Speaker 2: Asst Prof Ka Lok Yip (Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar)
Equality and its social ontological discontent

Speaker 3: Sai S. Venkatesh (Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and Rule of Law, Germany)
Examining the legality of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) and their implication on existing rules of international humanitarian law (IHL): Through a critical legal studies perspective and a feminist approach to international law

PANEL 6: EQUALITY AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Chair: Prof Dr Stefanie Walter, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich,
Switzerland

Speaker 1: Prof Paul Weismann (University of Salzburg, Germany)
Equality of third countries? The EU’s human rights approach in matters of trade and investment protection

Speaker 2: Ass Prof Francesca Mussi (University of Trento, Italy)
The EU draft directive on corporate due diligence: a legal instrument to effectively encourage a gender-responsive sustainability?

Speaker 3: Aliénor Nina Burghartz (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Unequal access to global liquidity: the international legal infrastructure of swap(-like) arrangements among central banks

Speaker 4: Marta Piazza (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
Increasing the legitimacy of economic rights in today’s international economic order through the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)

PANEL 7: EQUALITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Chair: Prof Dr Johannes Reich, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speakers 1: Dr Corina Heri and Ganesan Pranav (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Arguing climate-related discrimination before the European Court of Human Rights: the example of age

Speakers 2: Lisa-Marie Ross and Kathrin Asschenfeldt (National University of Singapore & Baumann Resolving Disputes, Germany)
Climate change litigation: a global success story? Developments in Southeast Asia in the context of recent global trends

Speakers 3: Aamir Shafiq Chodhary and Sumera Saleem (University of Sargodha, Pakistan)
Controlled compliance of environmental laws in Pakistan: the critique of socioeconomic inequality

Speakers 4: Asst Prof Kavuri Sudha and Asst Prof Anjana Ramanathan (Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University & Jindal Global Law School, both India)
The expendables of the sea: marginalization of the traditional fishing community in India

PANEL 8: GENDER AND EQUALITY: AN INTERSECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Chair: Marisa Beier, MLaw, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Dr Cristiano d’Orsi (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
LGBTIQ communities in Africa and their rights: when pandemic makes existing inequality even bigger

Speaker 2: Dr Manuela Hugentobler (University of Bern, Switzerland)
The "so-called intersectionality": the Swiss judiciary's reluctant approach to inequality against the mirror of international human rights law

Speakers 3: Prof Amit Upadhyay and Asst Prof Arvind Tayenjam (Jindal Global Law School & Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, India)
Interrelationship of legal gender identity and right to health of transgender persons in India

Speaker 4: Dr Alice Margaria (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany)
Another side of gender equality: reconstructing fatherhood around care

PANEL 9: EQUALITY AND TECHNOLOGY: MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Chair: Hanna Stoll, MLaw, Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Speaker 1: Dr Keren Weitzberg (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom)
The other climate technology: biometrics, climate change, and the politics of austerity

Speaker 2: Dr Niovi Vavoula (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom)
Non-discrimination and equality in the operationalisation of EU large-scale systems for third-country nationals

Speaker 3: Prof Beata Paragi (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary)
The irresponsible promise of equality? The limits of explainability and transparency vs. data subjects' reasonable expectations in the context of migration (management)