Equality Today | Issue 23 | May 2022

Check in this issue:

#Youth
#Vacancies
#Disabilities
#EqualityConference
#Gender
#HateSpeech

#RomaRights
#HumanRights
#Covid19
#EqualityData
#LGBTQI+

Upcoming

Events

#Youth

European Year of Youth: Equality Bodies that work for all of us 
24 May (14:30-16:30 CEST) 
Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, will meet with young people from across Europe for a Policy Dialogue to address rights awareness, challenges of underreporting, the importance of building trust between youth and authorities, as well as standards for equality bodies. Equinet will be represented by Mariam Rechchad (Policy & Legal Trainee), while the French Defender of Rights will be represented by two of their Youth Ambassadors for Rights, Agathe Guillard and Justin.e Gaude. Follow the webstream by the EC Streaming Service.

#Vacancies

Apply for Equinet Traineeships (Deadline: 6 June) 
Are you, or anyone you know, interested in work experience at Equinet? If so, you are in luck! Applications are open for our three traineeship programmes, working in: 

• Communication 
• Policy and Legal 
• Network Administration

Call for researcher: Report on climate change policies in the EU
Are you an expert on climate justice? Are you passionate about the link between climate change and equality issues? Work with us! Equinet is hiring an expert to draft a research report on climate change policies in the EU and the role of equality bodies. You can find the full call here. Please send us your application by 15 June. 

#Disabilities

Blog post: ...The one with the reasonable accommodation measures 
This Equinet blogpost, written by Legal and Policy Officer Jone Elizondo-Urrestarazu, draws lessons from the HR Rail case on reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. The blogpost links the CJEU decision on the case with the work of Equinet’s Equality Law in Practice working group outlining the Court’s position on the scope and implementation of reasonable accommodation measures on the workplace. 

#EqualityConference

Conference: Equality Bodies supporting Equality Planning – main takeaways 
The conference took place on 19 May in Portugal, bringing together representatives of equality bodies and policymakers at both European and national level, private sector actors, national Diversity Charters, as well as other relevant stakeholders.

#Gender

Equinet meets the Institute for Equality between Women and Men and the European Women Lobby 
On 12 May, Equinet and the Institute for Equality between Women and Men (Belgium) hosted a fruitful meeting with the European Women’s Lobby. The heads of these organisations discussed shared work priorities, including the implementation of the Work-Life Balance Directive, proposals and perspectives relating to the future Women on Board and Pay Transparency Directives. Further discussion topics included key developments in 2022 at EU level with new legislation proposals on Violence against Women, as well as on binding standards for the work of national Equality Bodies.

#RomaRights

Latvia: Research study on the situation of Roma in Latvia 
The Ombudsman of Latvia has concluded the research study “The situation of Roma in Latvia”. The study investigates the experience of seven local governments in such areas as cooperation with the Roma community, children’s education, housing support and social assistance. The Ombudsman highlighted examples of good practice and made recommendations to improve the situation of Roma. 

#HumanRights

Georgia: Annual Reports on the situation of Human Rights  
On March 31, 2022, the Public Defender of Georgia presented the 2021 report on the situation of human rights and freedoms in Georgia to the Parliament of Georgia. In 2021, the human rights situation did not improve significantly. Moreover, there was even a significant deterioration in a number of areas. 2021 was marked by the Government decisions that breached the independence of state institutions overseeing/responsible for the protection of human rights in the country. 

#Covid19

Croatia: Special Report on the Impact of the COVID 19 Epidemic on Human Rights and Equality 
Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter submitted to the Croatian Parliament special report on the the Impact of the COVID 19 Epidemic on Human Rights and Equality. The Report analyses the impact of the epidemic during the course of 2020 and 2021 and provides 72 recommendations with the aim of  encouraging and directing the process of the strengthening of Croatia’s resilience to crises. 

#HateSpeech

Council of Europe issues a recommendation on hate speech 
The Council of Europe has issued a set of guidelines to its 46 member states aimed at preventing and combating hate speech, both online and offline. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers calls on governments to develop comprehensive strategies to prevent and fight hate speech, including the adoption of an effective legal framework and implementing adequately calibrated and proportionate measures. When doing so, national authorities should carefully balance the right to private life, the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition of discrimination. 

#EqualityData

Thematic reports by FRA and the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute 
A series of thematic reports on producing equality data for vulnerable, hard-to-reach groups (separate reports on the the situation of children, of old people, of people with disability and of Roma) have been published in the framework of a joint project between FRA and the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, funded by the EEA/Norway Financial mechanism. The reports are based on data from a big-scale survey (30,303 respondents) conducted in 2020. 

#LGBTQI+

For #IDAHOBIT2022, we feature a collection of maps released in May highlighting the current situation of LGBTQI+ rights in Europe. 

• 2022 Rainbow Europe by ILGA-Europe 

ILGA-Europe released the 2022 Rainbow Europe, which brings together both the legal index of LGBTI equality based on the Rainbow Europe Map, and an overview of the social climate for LGBTI people in each country based on ILGA’s Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI people.  

• 2022 Trans Rights Map by TGEU

TGEU Trans Rights Map illustrates the legal situation of transgender rights in 49 countries in Europe and 5 in Central Asia. It shows country-specific requirements for legal gender recognition, as well as existing protections for trans people in asylum, hate crime/speech, non-discrimination, health, and family. This year, the map registers slow progress, after no significant advancements in 2021.

• 2021 Good Practice Map by OII Europe 

The Good Practice Map by OII Europe highlights advancement achieved in 2021 towards the better protection of intersex human rights across Europe. This year’s Good Practice Map features a new section, “In the Making,” featuring newly adopted Intersex Genital Mutilation legislation and analysing their protective elements, as well as the still existing gaps and inconsistencies.