Imagine you and your friends are looking for a funny evening in Leuven. You decide to go to a new club, but at the door the doorman refuses you to enter, mentioning that the club is full. However, as you and your friends want to leave, you can see, that other people are allowed to enter. In other words, you have been refused because you need a member card to enter. Yet, as you ask for it, you are told that ‘people like you’ do not get one.

Both of these examples are not only realistic and very hurtful, they are forbidden by law as well. That is what is called ‘discrimination’. Discrimination can appear in every sector of life, the most affected areas are the housing sector, work or the discrimination in clubs, restaurants or cafes.
Direct discrimination takes place if your are treated less favourably than other people in a comparable situation based on race, nationality, skin colour, gender, age, sexual orientation, state of health or disabilities. An example would be a landlord not wanting you to rent his room for being a foreigner. Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin, disabled people or people with a certain sexual orientation at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons. For example: If dogs are forbidden in a restaurant, a blind person with a guide dog is excluded from entering the restaurant.
Did you feel discriminated yourself? Or have you witnessed any form of discrimination? Or do you have some questions about the topic? Then the city of Leuven offers you some help: the ‘meldpunt discriminatie’, the anti discrimination service. There, you can find reliable help and partners against discrimination. Remember that you are not alone. Refer to the antidiscrimination service, they will help you. And your report will help other victims of discrimination to confirm their statements. |

Contact

Meldpunt discriminatie

City hall

Professor Van Overstraetenplein 1
3000 Leuven

Tel. : 016 27 26 00
Fax : 016 27 29 55

E-mail : meldpunt.discriminatie(at)leuven(dot)be
Website : www.leuven.be/bestuur/meldpunt-discriminatie/