Working group
Socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination
We are a group of legal scholars and practitioners concerned with the structural and pervasive issues arising from socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination.The working group aims at promoting and facilitating academic and practical collaborations on the research and tackling of socio-economic inequality and related issues. These contributions are materialised in different forms such as conferences, seminars and workshops, publications, litigation, and policymaking.
Socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination working group annual conferenceAntwerp, 8th & 9th October 2026
University of AntwerpLaw and Development Research Group
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Socio-economic inequalities often escape the grasp of law under the premise of doctrines of neutrality often themselves underlined by economic ideologies. Emerging interpretations challenge the limitations of law in delivering socio-economic justice. Anti-discrimination law has increasingly tackled poverty discrimination as a central issue in addressing the entrenchment of socio-economic inequalities.
Read below some of our members' contributions to the topic and other useful materials.
Publications by membersTainá Garcia Maia, Judging Poverty and Inequality in BrazilGideon Basson, Poverty and discrimination under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act: A transformative substantive equality approachNiels Petersen (ed), Equality' Guardians: How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination GuaranteesSarah Ganty, Poverty as Misrecognition: What Role for Antidiscrimination Law in EuropeJuan Carlos Benito Sánchez, Towering Grenfell: Reflections around Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Antidiscrimination LawJustin Winchester, Too taxing, too much taxing, or not progressive enough? The introduction of a wealth tax as an equality imperative in South AfricaMichael G Marcondes Smith, Equality Restricted: The Problematic Compatibility between Austerity Measures and Human Rights LawCathi Albertyn, Contested substantive equality in the South African Constitution: beyond social inclusion towards systemic justice
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Steering Committee
Our members
Advait Tambe, Mansfield College; Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
Cara Röhner, Hochschule RheinMain
Carla Elizabeth Cabanillas Linares, University of Erfurt
Cathi Albertyn, South African Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice, School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
Eva Pils, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Centre for Human Rights
Gideon Basson, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
Ishita Sharma, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Punjab
Jorge Forero Neme, Universidad de los Andes
Juan Carlos Benito Sanchez, ASTEC Global Consultancy
Julie Ringelheim, Catholic University Louvain
Justin Jaftha, University of the Witwatersrand
Justin Winchester, Magdalen College, University of Oxford
Konrad Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen
Lucas Dikkers, Department of International and European Law, Radboud University
Marion Sandner, Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp
Michael George Marcondes Smith, Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp
Miguel Ruiz, Observatori DESCA
Mitali Nagrecha, Justice Collective
Nancy Leong, Sturm College of Law
Niels Petersen, Universität Münster
Pamela Smith Castro, Sociedad y Discapacidad SODIS; Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru
Rawletta Barrow, Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Rodrigo Merayo Fernández, European University of Madrid
Sarah Ganty, Peking University’s School of Transnational Law
Stefania Rainaldi Redon, UNICEF; School of Law, Queen Mary University London
Tainá Garcia Maia, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Centre for Human Rights
Vandita Khanna, Academy for European Human Rights Protection, University of Cologne
Partners
SARChI Chair on Equality, Law and Social Justice, University of the Witwatersrand