Understanding the New EU Directives on Standards for Equality Bodies – Advocating for a successful transposition: Civil Society Toolkit

This toolkit, drafted by Equal Rights Trust, with  advice and expertise of the Equinet secretariat, is intended to provide an introduction to the new European Union Directives on Standards for Equality Bodies. It aims to support CSOs working with people exposed to discrimination to make use of the Directives in their efforts to protect and promote the rights of these groups by advocating for the complete implementation of the standards they set out.

This resource was developed following a consultation with European-wide Civil Society Networks and is intended to accompany the Legal Digest on Standards for Equality Bodies. It aims to provide civil society organisations with a short accessible document which presents the Key Principles derived from the detailed analysis of the Directives and provide guidance and ideas for practical actions for civil society organisations to support the transposition of the Standards Directives and advocate for ambitious implementation.

It highlights the importance of national transposition strategies with the objective of providing essential information, key advocacy material, and practical guidance for CSOs to engage with the transposition process and advocate the swift and ambitious implementation of the Standards Directives. Through advocating for full and effective implementation, CSOs can help to ensure that Equality Bodies are effectively equipped with the mandate, independence, resources and powers to combat discrimination and promote equality in practice. In addition, the legal requirement to transpose  the Standards Directives can provide new impetus to push equality and anti-discrimination to the top of policymakers’ agendas, as well as setting out benchmarks to hold governments to account.

Download here the ACCESSIBLE version of Understanding the New EU Directives on Standards for Equality Bodies: Advocating for successful transposition, Civil Society Toolkit.