@article{DawsonMuirClaes, author = {Dawson, Mark and Muir, Elise and Claes, Monica}, title = {Enforcing the EU's Rights Revolution: The Case of Equality}, series = {European human rights law review}, volume = {2012}, journal = {European human rights law review}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sweet and Maxwell}, address = {London}, issn = {1361-1526}, pages = {276 -- 291}, abstract = {The last 10 years of EU integration has seen a "rights revolution", at least in so far as fundamental rights are increasingly the register through which legal conflicts in the EU are articulated. But how are EU fundamental rights enforced in a legal order where enforcement relies upon the navigation of multiple institutions and levels of law? This article will seek to clarify this question, using the example of equality law to explore the various remedies available under EU law to enforce EU fundamental rights, and analysing their various strengths and weaknesses. The article will argue that while EU law has considerably enhanced the possibilities for individuals and groups to challenge breaches of fundamental rights to equality, the system of remedies provided by EU law has serious weaknesses. First, the autonomy provided by EU law for domestic orders to develop their own remedies and rules of access creates significant discrepancies in enforcing fundamental rights across the Member States. Secondly, the enforcement of EU equality law remains primarily based on individual litigation both leaving "gaps" in protection for vulnerable groups and making it difficult to address "systemic" problems of discrimination. The EU's "rights revolution" both provides legal and political opportunities for social actors while also challenging the EU's existing system of judicial remedies.}, language = {en} } @incollection{DawsonMuirClaes, author = {Dawson, Mark and Muir, Elise and Claes, Monica}, title = {A tool-box for Legal and Political Mobilisation in European Equality law}, series = {Rights in Pursuit of Social Change: Legal Mobilisation in the Multi-Level European System}, booktitle = {Rights in Pursuit of Social Change: Legal Mobilisation in the Multi-Level European System}, publisher = {Hart Publ.}, address = {Oxford}, isbn = {978-1849463904}, pages = {105 -- 128}, abstract = {Over the past few decades, European countries have witnessed a proliferation of legal norms concerning marginalised individuals and minorities who increasingly invoke them in front of courts to assert their rights and claim protection. The present volume explores the relationship between law, rights and social mobilisation in Europe. It specifically enquires into the extent and ways in which legal processes and entitlements are mobilised by less privileged social actors to advance their rights claims and pursue social change. Most distinctly, it explores such processes in the context of the multi-level European system, characterised by the existence of multiple legal and judicial arenas at the national, subnational and supranational/transnational level. In such a complex system of law and governance in Europe, concepts like legal opportunity structures, as well as the factors shaping them need to be reconceptualised. How does the multi-level European context distinctly shape the nature and salience of rights, as well as their mobilisation by individuals and minority actors?}, language = {en} }