In November 2018, the State of Baden-Württemberg set up the Anti-Discrimination Agency (LADS) in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration.

The basis of the activities of the Anti-Discrimination Agency (LADS) is inviolable human dignity, as guaranteed by Article 1 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz). Discrimination denies people this dignity. They worsen the social climate for society as a whole. Anti-discrimination work therefore makes an indispensable contribution to the further development of a lively and defensive democracy in Baden-Württemberg, but also in a Germany-wide and European context.

According to their own statements, more than a third of people in Germany have experienced discrimination in the past two years. Not only a few people are affected, but a considerable part of the population, states the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Discrimination in Germany, 2017).

Discrimination can occur for a variety of reasons. This includes, for example:

• the ethnic origin,
• the language,
• the religion,
• the worldview,
• the gender,
• sexual orientation,
• gender identity,
• the age,
• the social origin or
• a disability.

The aim of the state’s anti-discrimination strategy is to proactively create a social climate in Baden-Württemberg and beyond, in which discrimination is recognised and sanctioned and those affected enjoy unreserved support – in their private and professional life as well as in public.

The tasks of LADS are:

• Development of strategies to combat all forms of discrimination,
• Networking of actors in Baden-Württemberg and Europe,
• Presence as the first point of contact for those affected: LADS does not provide any advice itself, but informs which local advice centres advise those affected against discrimination.

In order to support those affected quickly and unbureaucratically, LADS supports eight local advice centres against discrimination. It also supports a supra-regional advice centre for those affected from regions in which no advice centre has yet been established

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