EU anti-discrimination directives empower national equality bodies not just to assist victims of discrimination but also to conduct surveys concerning discrimination and to publish reports and make recommendations on any issue relating to discrimination. Although there is a range of possibilities and realities on how Member States transpose the directives, it appears that a clear objective of the legislators was that equality bodies should not just combat discrimination but also promote (full) equality within society. Traditional measures and tools such as legal support have a limited capacity to ensure the effective promotion of equality and to bring about positive changes in the culture of society. If they are to live up to this challenge, national equality bodies and other actors will have to take proactive steps.

Equinet has released its 2013 Annual Report, highlighting the increased focus on gender in the work of the network, and its contribution to the European Commission’s Review of the Anti-Discrimination Directives. The report also illustrates how our network works, what are its main objectives, and the main activities and milestones throughout the year.

On Thursday 24 April 2014, Equinet organised a High-Level Seminar in Brussels bringing together representatives of equality bodies, national and European stakeholders and experts, for an open and constructive dialogue on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services.

Equality bodies are mandated by EU gender equality legislation to ensure the promotion, analysis, monitoring and support of equal treatment of all persons without discrimination on the ground of sex in matters of employment and occupation. As part of their work, the practical implementation of the principle of equal pay for equal work and work of equal value is central. Their experience on the ground at national level confirms that, notwithstanding a long presence of the principle in EU and national legislation, equal pay in practice is still to be achieved.

The European Commission released a joint report on the implementation of the Race Equality and the Employment Equality Directives. According to the report, key challenges include a lack of public awareness of rights and underreporting of discrimination cases.

To help equality bodies improve their work and effectiveness, Equinet has recently commissioned a paper on processes and indicators for measuring the impact of equality bodies.

The Equinet Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on the 28th of November 2013 in Brussels and gathered representatives of equality bodies from across Europe to reflect on Equinet’s work over the past year and to discuss and take decisions for the future of the network.