Unia, Belgium’s independent centre for equal opportunities, plans to file a complaint against Nathan Cofnas, a US researcher at Ghent University, over remarks it believes repeatedly breached the country’s anti-racism law, De Morgen reported on Thursday.
The centre’s board agreed last week to take the case to court, one month after Ghent University opened disciplinary proceedings against Cofnas.
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In comments to De Morgen, Unia said the US philosopher was spreading ideas in Belgium that rank people in a hierarchy on the basis of supposed scientific knowledge.
It said those ideas were being used to justify discrimination based on origin or skin colour, and to encourage forms of segregation.
However, Nathan Cofnas’s position as a researcher could complicate the case, according to Stefan Sottiaux, a KU Leuven professor specialising in anti-discrimination law.
“The anti-racism law requires malicious intent,” he said. “The mere dissemination of shocking or racist opinions is therefore not punishable on its own.”
