As the UK’s departure from the European Union approaches, the British Government is preparing to take on the new responsibility of trade negotiations. The Trade Bill currently passing through the British Parliament is laying the groundwork for this. Civil society has called for the inclusion of Human Rights and Democracy clauses that are at least equal to the EU’s standards, and others emphasise that this is also an opportunity to introduce higher standards.

On 29th October 2018, the Albanian Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination organized the Third Regional Conference of Equality Bodies, by topic “Independence of Equality Bodies”, at the Palace of Brigades, in Tirana, Albania. The Conference was partly financially supported by the OSCE.

In November 2018, a legal expertise opinion, commissioned by FADA, was released on reasonable accommodation/adjustments. The author of the opinion argues that international and EU law oblige Germany to explicitly include reasonable accommodation in the General Equal Treatment Act, and he recommends to do so for all grounds of discrimination.

Finding inspiration and gathering ideas on inclusive education: that was the goal of the international conference on 8 and 9 October. For this two-day conference, Unia joined forces with the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights and received support from the OHCHR Regional Office in Brussels.

Scotland will become the first country in the world to have LGBTI inclusive education embedded in the curriculum, the Scottish Government has announced. The Government accepted all 33 recommendations by the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group, created to improve the learning experience for LGBTI young people, in full. Work to implement the recommendations will start immediately. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Scottish Office was on the working group from the outset.

The 21st century family no longer relies solely on sexual or blood relations, but on how people choose their co-habitation. Marriage is not the only form of family. The Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia calls for a unified understanding of the concept and protection of the family included in the Constitution (Satversme) and to provide a legal framework for recognizing various forms of family in Latvia.

On 25 October, the Commission launched ‘Is Britain Fairer?’ (IBF), ‘Is Scotland Fairer?’ (ISF) and ‘Is Wales Fairer?’ (IWF) reports. Is Britain Fairer? is a three-yearly project to review of the state of equality and human rights in England, Scotland and Wales. The reports examine six areas of everyday life to assess progress towards a fairer Britain over the last three years, highlighting trends, emerging issues and the action that needs to be taken now to improve the life chances of the next generation. The reports are available below:

• Is Britain Fairer?
• Is Scotland Fairer?
• Is Wales Fairer?