Overview
The General Assembly of Equinet Members met for the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Brussels, Belgium on 7 November, bringing together heads and senior representatives from Equinet member and observer national equality bodies.
This year’s AGM had a particular significance for the Network, for two main reasons:
- The Equinet Strategic Plan 2019 – 2022 was adopted by the General Assembly.
- Three new equality bodies joined the Network.
Other important decisions were related to the adoption of 2019 Work Plan and Budget, and approval of Equinet Accounts 2017 and Minutes of the Equinet AGM 2017 by Members.
Finally, Members were presented proposals for the new Equinet branding, which will be further developed and presented in early 2019 with the launch of the new Equinet website.
General Assembly Vote
The General Assembly voted on the following items which were all adopted by represented Equinet Members:
Ratification of three candidate members:
- Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia, Georgia
- Council on Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality, Republic of Moldova
- Institute of Women and for Equal Opportunities, Spain
AGM Discussions
Besides deciding on governance and membership issues, equality bodies had the opportunity to engage with relevant stakeholders and partners to discuss key policy and legislative developments as regards equality and non-discrimination at European and international levels. Topics addressed during the AGM Plenary were related to:
- European priorities on equality and non-discrimination and the contribution of equality bodies
- Implementation of European Standards for national equality bodies
- Upcoming Elections of the Parliament of the European Union
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relevance for promoting equality
- Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) post-2020 of the European Union (Rights and Values Programme)
Additionally, small group discussions took place on:
- National level visibility and implementation of Standards for equality bodies
- Priorities for Equality Bodies in 2019 & Brainstorming on Equinet priorities for Work Plan 2020
- Equality bodies supporting strong equality focus under 2020 Rights and Values Programme
These discussions allowed Equinet members to elaborate on the mentioned topics in a more in-depth manner, and to identify and develop unified strategies and approaches to address common concerns.
Equinet AGM 2018 Agenda
Presentations
- Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia, Georgia
- Ian Feldman, Council on Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality, Republic of Moldova
- Institute of Women and for Equal Opportunities, Spain (Presented by Rosario Maseda, General Direction for Equal Treatment & Diversity, Spain)
- Petr Polák, Moderator of Equinet Working Group Policy Formation and Board Member, Czech Republic
- Wouter Van Ballegooij, European Parliament Research Service, Belgium
- Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (video message)
Photos
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| Annual General Meeting, Brussels, 7 November 2018 |