Grounds for discrimination
The purpose of the General Act on Equal Treatment is to prevent or to stop discrimination on grounds of 'race'*or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
With its work, the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency pursues a horizontal approach. This means that the various grounds for discrimination merit protection to an equal extent. Thus the creation of a hierarchy of grounds for discrimination and/or of groups of affected individuals is avoided.
*The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency conscientiously avoids the use of the term 'race', which is included in the General Act on Equal Treatment. It denies all theories that try to prove the existence of different human races.
