Role and work of EQUINET - EUROPEAN NETWORK OF EQUALITY BODIES Anne Gaspard Equinet Executive Director

Equinet – A brief history 2003-2007: cooperation project by equality bodies 2007: creation of Equinet as a European Network of Specialised Equality Bodies 2008: setting up of Brussels-based Equinet Secretariat Funding: European Commission (PROGRESS and Rights, Equality and Citizenship programmes) and Member contributions

Elisabeth LIER HAUGSETH Executive Board (2015-2017) Kosana BEKER Assistant to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Serbia Evelyn COLLINS Chair Chief Executive Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, UK (Northern Ireland) Sarah BENICHOU Head of ‘Access to Rights and Discriminations’ Unit Defender of Rights, France Anna BŁASZCZAK Deputy Director of the Constitutional and International Law Department Human Rights Defender, Poland Patrick CHARLIER Co-Director Unia - Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities, Belgium Sandra KONSTATZKY Deputy Director Ombud for Equal Treatment, Austria Elisabeth LIER HAUGSETH Head of Law Enforcement Department The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, Norway Kalliopi LYKOVARDI Coordinator of Anti-Discrimination Unit Greek Ombudsman, Greece Petr POLAK Head of the Division of Equal Treatment Public Defender of Rights, Czech Republic

‘Equinet is the European Network of Equality Bodies. Equinet’s Mission ‘Equinet is the European Network of Equality Bodies. The Network promotes equality in Europe through supporting and enabling the work of national equality bodies. It supports equality bodies to be independent and effective as valuable catalysts for more equal societies’.

Equinet Members Network of specialised equality bodies (45 members from 33 European countries) Specialised equality bodies on the basis of EC Equal Treatment Directives (2000/43/EC; 2004/113/EC; 2006/54/EC) Diversity among national equality bodies in terms of size, mandate, grounds, structure and experience

Functions of Equality Bodies Functions laid down in EU Directives: Independent assistance to victims of discrimination Independent surveys and reports concerning discrimination Recommendations on discrimination issues Exchange of information with European bodies • Wider functions taken on by Equality Bodies: awareness raising promotion of good practices

Objectives of Equinet Building capacity and peer support for equality bodies (staff and organizational capacity) Contributing to the European Equality Agenda (through communicating the learning from the work of equality bodies) Serving as a knowledge and communication hub on equal treatment Consolidating the network and the position of its members

Types of Mandates Types of Functions Equality Bodies Equality Bodies combined NHRIs Equality Bodies combined with Ombudsman institutions Types of Functions Tribunal Type Equality Bodies Promotion Type Equality Bodies Combined Equality Bodies (promotion & tribunal)

Mandates of Equinet Members

Standards for Equality Bodies Equinet’s Working Paper on Developing Standards for Equality Bodies (15 June 2016) Goals: To ensure that equality bodies can implement all of their functions and powers to a scale that can achieve an impact To protect them from being undermined or diminished in the exercise of their functions

Developing Standards for Equality Bodies Broadest equality, diversity and non-discrimination MANDATE (Article 19 TFEU, Article 21 EU Charter, multiple discrimination, minimum fields: employment, vocational training, goods & services, education, housing, social protection, and social advantages) Complete INDEPENDENCE (own legal personality, stand-alone structure, mandate defined by law, system of accountability, no external pressure and undue interference) EFFECTIVENESS (adequate human and financial resources, general powers, specific powers underpinning the type of EB) INSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE (cooperation of EB within one country, clear legal basis and adequate resources for EB that are combined with other bodies)

138 Rue Royale / Koningsstraat www.equineteurope.org EquinetEurope @EquinetEurope EQUINET SECRETARIAT 138 Rue Royale / Koningsstraat B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 212 3182 Anne.Gaspard@equineteurope.org