The General Assembly of Equinet Members met in Brussels on 29-30 September for the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM), bringing together heads and senior management representatives from Equinet member equality bodies.

The AGM saw the unanimous ratification of a new membership application from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Workplan for 2017. A particular focus was given to the development of standards for equality bodies, as well as the use of EEA and Norway grants by equality bodies. The European Directory of Equality Bodies was launched.

The European Directory of Equality Bodies is a new database which brings together up-to-date profiles of our member equality bodies with comparable search options on their mandates, functions and accountability.

On 30 August, Equinet representatives met with a variety of social partners and civil society organisations in order to highlight priorities of Equinet’s draft Work Plan for 2017 and to hear about their current and future priorities in order to find synergies and ways for cooperating in the future.

The Equinet Executive Board and Secretariat were invited to Helsinki on 7 September by our Finnish members, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Equality, to meet with staff members and Finnish stakeholders to discuss the work of equality bodies and common challenges for equality in Europe.

On 13 and 14 October 2016, Equinet organised a training session on social media use for equality bodies, hosted by the Facebook Headquarters in Europe.

29 June 2016, Strasbourg – Traditionally, summer holidays coincide with the eviction of Roma and Travellers throughout Europe, which takes place almost unnoticed. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) join the Council of Europe, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the European Network of European National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) and the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet) in a statement to condemn the recent evictions of Roma and Travellers in Europe.

The European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) hosted the Fundamental Rights Forum in Vienna, 20-23 June. Under the motto "Rights, Respect, Reality: the Europe of Values in Today’s World", the Forum brought together practitioners, grassroots workers, thinkers and high-level decision makers to reflect on existing challenges and good practices as well as future challenges and opportunities.

As part of the Council conclusions adopted on 16 June 2016, a reinforcement and continued support of the action of national institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women and gender equality was recommended, including equality bodies, which are crucial for the advancement of de jure and de facto gender equality, as well as that of the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet).

As part of the Council conclusions adopted on 16 June 2016, a reinforcement and continued support of the action of institutional mechanisms was recommended, including national Equality Bodies, which are crucial instruments for the non-discrimination of LGBTI persons, as well as that of the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet).

This conference, held at the EESC in Brussels on 16 June, set out to discuss the experiences of equality bodies and other stakeholders with the implementation and possible shortcomings and gaps in EU equal treatment legislation. It also aimed to find ways to make this legislation comprehensive in its scope and more effective on the ground. The specific challenge of creating the conditions for equality bodies to fulfil their potential were also discussed.

The conference was preceded by a networking event entitled ’Towards an equal Europe’ on 15 June, where the working paper on developing standards for equality bodies was launched, in the presence of Commissioner Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová.