September 21, 2020
The Equinet Equality Law Working Group has been working during the last year towards contributing to developing the European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR) jurisprudence, including increased analysis of article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and issues that are at the cutting edge of equality law and theory. This blog post presents the results of this work.
September 16, 2020
The living facilities, as well as the sheltered workshops that were co-funded by the EU, perpetuate the segregation and social exclusion of persons with disabilities in Austria. This is in breach not only of the above mentioned Council Directive 2000/78/EC, but also the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Social Pillar and, last but not least, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was ratified by both the European Union and Austria. Read this blog post to find out more.
September 14, 2020
This blog post outlines the pre-existing limitations in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights across Europe as well as the further violations we are now witnessing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. By looking at how equality bodies are responding, this article shows the unique role that NEBs play in ensuring access to SRHR.
July 28, 2020
Equality Bodies accord high priority in their work to seeking improvement in the situation and experience of Roma and Travellers. They share a particular concern at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Roma and Travellers and how inequality and disadvantage have left these communities ill-equipped to protect themselves from the pandemic.
July 27, 2020
Initially hailed as the 'great equalizer,' the COVID-19 pandemic has, in reality, exposed the depth of institutional, structural, and systemic discrimination and inequality in our societies. The question for Europe now is not if discrimination and exclusion exist but rather how intersectionality serves as a tool to create a fairer, socially just, and more inclusive Europe for everyone.
June 16, 2020
In April 2020, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) published a policy brief, in which it shed light on the crucial issue that can no longer be ignored – the COVID-19 pandemic is reinforcing existing inequalities in our society and the long-term impacts of the health crisis will disproportionately affect women and girls.
June 12, 2020
Society has changed enormously in recent months. The world is under the spell of a pandemic. New manners and customs are appearing, such as no physical contact with others, new ways of greeting each other, social distancing and wearing face masks or alternatives is becoming the norm in public spaces. When it comes to this issue, the WHO is clear: wearing a medical mask can limit the spread of certain respiratory viral diseases, including COVID-19. From a human rights perspective, the latter trend is particularly interesting, especially if we take into account the fact that in some European countries wearing full-face veils in public spaces is prohibited by law and can lead to sanctions (i.e. fines, prison, administrative fines).
June 8, 2020
The events of the last few days, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the death of George Floyd, have prompted an amplification of the racial justice movement in the United States that is resonating everywhere in the world, including in Europe. This blogpost aims to give some insight into this movement from a systemic racism point of view, highlighting how this is far from an isolated incident, but a part of a whole system of oppression that needs dismantling.
May 25, 2020
I, as the communications coordinator for the European Disability Forum, have been following the COVID-19 impact since beginning of March. It has not been encouraging. Seeing how governments systematically forgot about persons with disabilities, how little support was given and how much pain and problems that created left me very discouraged. Persons with disabilities have been discriminated, isolated, forgotten and subject to multiple and severe human rights violations since the beginning of this crisis.
August 27, 2020
The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency published a study on the risks of discrimination caused by algorithms in November 2019, and have just released the English version. The […]
July 9, 2020
In Belgium, a person’s origin is still an obstacle on the labour market. To help change this situation, the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social […]
July 9, 2020
In 2019, Unia saw a continued upward trend in the number of reports and cases concerning discrimination. ‘The number of reports was 13.2% higher than in […]
July 9, 2020
Unia funded research on police selectivity, conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC) and the Brussels North police zone. Main conclusion? […]
November 28, 2019
The Irish State is failing to sufficiently tackle racism and discrimination and to live up to its international human rights obligations in combatting racial discrimination, according […]
November 12, 2019
The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (FADA) has released the results of a study dealing with the extent, the handling as well as possible prevention and intervention approaches […]
November 12, 2019
The National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) Malta has recently published the 10th issue of the newsletter ‘Equality Matters’ which is about sexism. The […]
November 12, 2019
Poster exhibition highlighting examples of the work of equality bodies to tackle sexual harassment
October 30, 2019
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the time when the Anti-Discrimination Act entered into force and when the Public Defender of Rights was also given the role of the national equality body pursuant to the European Union legislation. Since the Defender lacks the power to represent victims of discrimination in court, lawyers play a key role in this respect. The Defender has prepared a document to help lawyers with this task.