Equinet - European network of equality bodies

This Issue Paper prepared for the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights aims to spark the debate on getting integration right by reviewing available, legally binding Council of Europe and EU standards and the needs in key areas of integration: family reunion, long-term residence, language and integration courses, access to employment and services and democratic inclusion through political rights and citizenship.

’Diversity is good for business’ is BusinessEurope’s showcase of concrete examples by member federations or companies in the field of diversity that have already brought tangible results. These were presented to Ms Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality on 4 February 2016 on the occasion of a high-level roundtable on “Business practices on how to improve diversity at all levels”.

The principles of equality and non-discrimination form a cornerstone of the rights-based approach, which is adopted by the European Youth Forum and integrates the norms, standards and principles of the international human rights system into the development, implementation and evaluation of youth policy. One of the key methods of achieving this is by ensuring that youth are not negatively discriminated against on the grounds of age or on any other factor.

European Women on Boards (EWoB) has published two reports which examine the progress, challenges and best practice regarding women on the Boards of the 600 largest European-listed companies.

The Commission has adopted its annual report on Roma integration. This year’s assessment provides, for the first time, an overview of the measures put in place by Member States following the 2013 Council Recommendation on effective Roma integration measures, which required them to develop National Roma Integration strategies to promote access of Roma to education, employment, healthcare and housing.

The ‘HELP in the 28’ course “Fight against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia and Transphobia” covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the European (CoE and EU) non-discrimination law and the impressive body of case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in addition to decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights. More specifically, the course has two substantive modules, one on racism and xenophobia, and the other one on homophobia and transphobia. A link to a specific module on Roma, the largest minority in the EU is also provided. One of the key reference materials to develop this course has been the Handbook on European non-discrimination law developed jointly by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Court of Human Rights.

This report, prepared by the European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, aims to explore the following question: to what extent does existing EU gender equality and non-discrimination law address the notion of intersectional discrimination?

On 22 June 2016, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Court of Human Rights launch a practical handbook on European law relating to access to justice.

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).