Legal Frameworks

• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

After positioning the area of antidiscrimination for the first time in the Treaty of Amsterdam, between 2000 and 2004 a total of four directives were promulgated within this legal framework:

• Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin
• Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation
• Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (text with EEA relevance)
• Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services

• Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz der BRD)

The following articles are particularly relevant:

• Article 1

(1) Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.

• Article 3 

(1) All persons shall be equal before the law.

(2) Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist.

(3) No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith, or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability.

• The German General Act on Equal Treatment (Das Allgemeine Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG)

Through the German General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG), in force since August 2006, the four European directives mentioned above have been in implemented in national law.

“The purpose of the Act is to prevent or eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, gender, religion or ideology, disability, age, or sexual identity” (Section 1 AGG).

Click here to reach the Complaints Office (pursuant to the AGG).

• The German Framework Act on Higher Education (link in German only)
  The German Higher Education Framework Act (Hochschulrahmengesetz, HRG), e.g., Section 3 Equality of women and men: “Higher education institutions promote the actual establishment of equality of women and men and work towards eliminating existing discrimination. State law shall establish and govern the responsibilities and rights of participation with respect to women and equal opportunity representatives at higher education institutions.”

Links to German websites only

• Hamburg Higher Education Act (HmbHG)
• Hamburgisches Gleichstellungsgesetz (Hamburg equal treatment act, HmbGleiG)
• Hamburgisches Gesetz zur Gleichstellung behinderter Menschen (Hamburg act on equal treatment for disabled persons, HmbGGbM)

• The University of Hamburg's equal opportunity plan 2023-2027 (German PDF only)
• Antidiskriminierungsrichtlinie der Universität Hamburg (Antidiscrimination directive of University of Hamburg , PDF)
• Richtlinie zum Schutz vor sexualisierter Diskriminierung, Belästigung und Gewalt an der Universität Hamburg (Directive for Protection against Sexual Discrimination, Harassment, and Violence at University of Hamburg , PDF)
• Gleichstellungsrichtlinie für den Wissenschaftsbereich der Universität Hamburg (Equal opportunity Directive for academic sphere of University of Hamburg, PDF)
• Diversity Concept of University of Hamburg 2019-2023 (German PDF only)
• Berufungsordnung Universität Hamburg ( University of Hamburg Academic Search Regulation, PDF)
• Further legal frameworks of University of Hamburg (Legal Unit)

Until 2007, the departments were responsible for devising stategies to advance women in academia.
After the faculties were established in 2005, these departmental strategies were replaced by equal opportunity strategies at faculty level.

PDFs in German only

• Faculty of Law (PDF)
• Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences (PDF)
• Faculty of Medicine (PDF)
• Faculty of Education (PDF)
• Faculty of Humanities (PDF)
• Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences (PDF)
• Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement (PDF)
• Faculty of Business Administration (Hamburg Business School) (PDF)
• Regional Computing Center