On 18-19 June, the European Commission, together with the Swedish Government organised a good practice exchange seminar to start exploring and building a shared understanding of the European Commission’s Recommendation on standards for equality bodies, its specific provisions and their implications for practice.
The seminar brought together over half of EU Member States, represented by relevant ministries and, in some cases, equality bodies. The focus areas chosen for this first good practice exchange seminar on the topic were:
- The potential of equality bodies,
- The decision-making powers of equality bodies,
- The appointment processes for heads and leadership of equality bodies, and
- The advisory functions of equality bodies
Tamás Kádár, the Equinet Secretariat’s Deputy Director delivered a presentation on the potential of equality bodies, while Patrick Charlier, member of Equinet’s Executive Board spoke about the advisory functions of equality bodies.
The seminar aimed to ensure a better understanding and consider next steps for the implementation of the Commission’s Recommendation to ensure that equality bodies can fulfill their potential to be independent and effective actors for promoting equality and challenging discrimination.
Equinet expresses its hope that similar events for exchanging good practices concerning standards for equality bodies will be organised regularly in the future.