A/HRC/42/59/Add.1 overrepresented among the unemployed. The employment gap between people born outside the European Union and people born in Belgium is among the highest such gap in the European Union, with a 21 per cent difference (27 per cent for women). 11 56. Some measures are reported to have been taken at both the federal level and the regional level (in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels) to integrate people of a migrant background into the labour market and to tackle discrimination, including on the basis of ethnic origin. The federal Government informed the Working Group that, in order to combat discrimination, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region was using “mystery calls”, a process involving the use of testers, whereby employers may be identified as potentially discriminating unlawfully. Social inspectors are now able to present themselves as jobseekers in order to investigate offences under the Anti-Discrimination Law. The Attorney-General has circulated legal guidance for inspectors regarding the relevant techniques for establishing evidence pursuant to the new legislation. The mystery call programme had only recently been commenced at the time of the visit, however, and few cases had been completed, so it was too early to assess its effectiveness. The Working Group was informed that local authorities were able to implement similar policies. Nevertheless, there is a lack of coordination across policy domains and between political levels to address the challenge of integrating people with a migrant background into work. Unia has stated that 27 per cent of complaints of employment discrimination received in 2017 involved “racial” criteria, and that most complaints concerned employment opportunities.12 Education 57. At every interaction with representatives of civil society, the Working Group heard testimonies of the systematic practice of diverting children of African descent to vocational or manual training and out of the mainstream, general educational trajectory. Such practices severely impact the right of young persons to education and to childhood and the right of parents to free choice with respect to their children’s education. Parents reported that they were struggling to keep their children from being diverted, resisting transfers to vocational education and fighting to avoid having their children diagnosed with behavioural or learning disorders, and that they were being threatened with the involvement of child protection services. A few parents discussed creative strategies to navigate these systems and secure their children’s education, which included using the home school testing process and enrolling their children in boarding school. University students also reported being discouraged from continuing their education or progressing. 58. The European Commission has confirmed these reports and has stated that there are major inequalities in education, rooted in structural problems relating to equal opportunities and inclusive education. Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to be steered towards certain schools and lower educational pathways, and the Commission notes: “Wide performance gaps between schools go hand-in-hand with unequal educational opportunities.”13 59. In 2018, Unia published its Diversity Barometer: Education, which found disparities between students of Belgian origin and students of foreign origin throughout all levels of schooling. Areas of concern included regular attendance at nursery school, test scores, leaving school without a diploma and underrepresentation in higher education. The Diversity Barometer noted that 46 per cent of North African boys began school late; that only 7 per cent of girls of Belgian origin left school without a diploma, while 41 per cent of North African girls left school without a diploma; that whereas 50 per cent of girls of Belgian origin continued to study following their last year of high school, this was the case for only 30 per cent of North African girls; and that while only 13 per cent of boys of Belgian origin left school without a diploma, this was the case for 45 per cent of boys of Turkish and North African origin. 14 11 12 13 14 See ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2018-european-semester-country-report-belgium-en.pdf. See www.unia.be/en/articles/more-employment-discrimination-cases-reported-to-unia-in-2017. See https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52018DC0401. Unia, Baromètre de la diversité – Enseignement (Brussels, 2018). 13