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.
May 20, 2020
Equinet’s new interactive tool gives some insight into how National Equality Bodies (NEBs) are responding to the crisis, as well as the current trends which are appearing in its impact on equality across the region.
May 4, 2020
All of this is hard. We are living unprecedented times, but global response to the crisis should address its potential impact on marginalised groups, including LGBTI people, and their access to healthcare and safety at home, as well as to watch out for discriminatory practices and measures.
April 22, 2020
Week after week, COVID-19 reveals uncomfortable realities about the unequal societies we live in. All over the world, we have been urged to stay home, by authorities and through the #stayathome campaign. But one of the most blatant truths that we must face is that, for many women and children, home is the most dangerous place to stay.
April 27, 2021
The Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo* has published its annual report for the year 2020 as the fulfillment of the constitutional liability of submitting an Annual Report […]
April 9, 2021
Warning: this blog article mentions instances of sexual violence which could be triggering or disturbing for some readers. The Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, the […]
February 24, 2021
The corona crisis that is gripping our country has fuelled mutual distrust among citizens. “We notice that there is a strong tendency to look for culprits […]
January 12, 2021
Women in poverty are one of the groups heavily and negatively affected by the current COVID-19 crisis regarding their economic situation, their wellbeing, their safety, but […]
January 12, 2021
The Advocate of the Principle of Equality (Equality Body) of the Republic of Slovenia found that considering the absences of an employee when calculating the value […]
January 11, 2021
The Belgian Institute for the equality of women and men has filed a criminal complaint against Twitter. The social media platform refused to take down nude […]
January 8, 2021
This report by the Commissioner for the Administration and the Protection of Human Rights (Cyprus Ombudsman) details the situation of foreign domestic workers (FDW) living and […]
December 17, 2020
In 2013 and 2018, German civil status law was amended to create the option for people with variations in sex characteristics to not specify their gender […]
December 17, 2020
The study looks at the question of how, after the introduction in 2018 of the positive civil status “diverse” (section 22 (3) Civil Status Act PStG)), […]