(November 19, 2012 at 7:04 pm)Kousbroek Wrote: No it isn't sorry ...
Art.1 of our constitution :
All persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in equal circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted.
I'm not familiar with the actual wording of the constitution, but to my knowledge, the article 1 speaks "Equality before law". With regards to that, your argument fails on many counts.
1. The principle guarantees equality before law, i.e. everyone is guaranteed equal justice and due process in courts.
2. This can be extended to mean equal treatment by the government in matters of public sphere, but private citizens are still allowed to discriminate.
3. Even on those affirmative discrimination is allowed for the deemed backward sections of the society.
4. Even the term "equal circumstances" is up for judicial review as well, since no two circumstances can be said to be completely identical and therefore definitely equal. So it often comes down to the courts' interpretation of the constitutional directive.
5. Discrimination - even on basis of aforementioned grounds - would be acceptable in cases where those grounds are justified even if the principle had been applicable to the private bodies as well. For example, an atheist contending for position of a Church Bishop, a conservative in a liberal party, a white person as a representative of a racial minority or a female where intense manual labor is a requirement.
