Following the recent US executive order "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity", European companies with contracts with the US government are now being contacted by the Trump administration. The letters ask companies to certify that their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes do not violate any applicable US federal anti-discrimination laws.

It is very worrying to see that not only US companies, but also European companies as well as universities, associations and law firms - even Luxembourg law firms - are currently being pushed to abandon fundamental values such as diversity and inclusion.

So, for example, White & Case LLP, one of the world's largest and most internationalised law firms, has just scrapped its diversity and inclusion programme.

In a recent statement, the firm said it was replacing its DEl function with "a new initiative focused on professional skills training and engagement for all our non-associate lawyers and business services professionals".

The firm was one of 20 law firms named in a letter sent earlier this month by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which requested information on firms' diversity, fairness and inclusion practices in employment, as part of US President Donald Trump's wider dismantling of the corporate DEl.

Hoping to save ongoing contracts, business relationships as well as project funding, many more companies have already responded positively to the US government's requests.

This approach not only contradicts ethical principles, but also runs counter to internationally recognised standards of a civilised society, such as, in particular, those enshrined in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 5, according to which "gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is also a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world."

The same applies to the European Social Charter, which provides for "gender equality in education, work and the family, as well as positive measures to ensure equal opportunities and equal pay".

In this context, it is all the more important that companies, both employers and employees, management, employee and employer representatives continue to take an interest in respecting these fundamental values within companies.

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