(Equinet) Equality Today | Issue 24 | Summer 2022

Date of article: 19/07/2022

Daily News of: 19/07/2022

Country:  EUROPE

Author: European network of equality bodies - EQUINET

Article language: en

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#EquinetNews 

Equinet Executive Chair Board announces retirement

Laurence Bond has announced his plan to retire in the Autumn as the Director of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and, therefore, also as member and Chair of the Equinet Executive Board. This is of course an unfortunate development for Equinet and a great loss for the Network as Laurence has proven to be an excellent Chair, providing strong leadership and guidance since his election at the last Equinet Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Recognizing the need for a smooth transition and strong Chair leadership internally and externally at this crucial point, the Equinet Executive Board held an extraordinary meeting on 4 July. During the meeting, the Board has unanimously voted to elect former Chair Tena Šimonović Einwalter (Ombudswoman of Croatia) to take on the role of Chair for the remainder of this mandate effective immediately.
Laurence Bond will remain as a Board member until the effective start of his retirement in the Autumn, and the Board will continue discussing the procedures to fill the open board seat left by his departure at their next meeting on 22 September.  The Equinet members, Executive Board, and Secretariat are grateful to Laurence Bond for his strategic and wide-ranging contributions to the Network over the last few years, which have been invaluable and will be greatly missed and wishes him the best for this new phase!
 
 

#EqualityData

Call for trainers: Use of equality data by equality bodies in legal casework

Equinet invites experts to put forward their proposals to deliver a training on the use of equality data by equality bodies in legal casework. The training is envisioned to take place on 27 (full day) and 28 (half day) October in Brussels, Belgium. Applications will be received until 30 July.
 
 

#ArtificialIntelligence

Publication: Regulating for European AI that Protects and Advances Equality 

This publication presents recommendations regarding the legislative proposal by the European Commission on artificial intelligence, and it reflects the position of equality bodies on how to protect equality in the context of AI-enabled systems.
 

#Gender

Publication: Domestic and Care Workers in Europe: An intersectional issue

This newly published Equinet report, based on a survey among equality bodies in several countries, showcases the diverse reality of domestic and care workers in Europe as a gender equality issue, from an intersectional perspective. It also analyses the international legal framework to better understand the protections (or lack thereof) extended to these workers.

CoE Report: Legal Gender Recognition in Europe

A new Council of Europe report looks at the progress achieved in European countries in guaranteeing full legal gender recognition (LGR) in all areas of life. The report acknowledges advances in legislation, practices and public attitudes, noting that progress is slow and additional steps are needed, inter alia, to “depathologise” legal gender recognition.
 

#AnnualReport

Equinet highlights 2021

Last month Equinet has published its 2021 annual report, focusing on three main highlights based on the work of Equinet and national equality bodies, namely: Standards for equality bodies – the linchpin in the quest for a Union of Equality; equality bodies tackling racism and related intolerance; and contributions to the policy and legislative framework in equality and non-discrimination.

Ireland: Challenging racism through public awareness

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has today published its 2021 Annual Report to the Houses of the Oireachtas, marking its seventh full year of work as Ireland’s national equality body. Among the highlights in the report is the public awareness campaign “All Human All Equal” #AllAgainstRacism, which aimed at challenging individual and societal attitudes that lead to people from different ethnic backgrounds experiencing racism.
 

#Equality

Blog post: Entertaining equality – why not?
In the latest Equality Blog post, Equinet communication trainee Margi Marchetti  analyses the role of entertainment in promoting equality among the general public. In their post, Margi looks into the work of Equinet member Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner of Estonia to reflect on the creative use of media to reach a wide audience to deliver entertaining messages of equality.
 

#Youth

Learn, Engage, Act: Digital Tools to Prevent and Counter Hate Speech Online
The EU funded project LEAD-Online addresses the need to strengthen critical thinking and digital & media literacy skills in young people, as causally linked to the low levels of reporting and the “normalization” of hate speech online.  The project, led by partners in Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, and Austria, includes empirical research, and is available on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
 
 

#Age

Latvia: Ombudsman speaks on age discrimination on job advertisements
The Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Latvia has recently released a public statement on age discrimination in job advertisement in the country. According to a 2020 study publish by the Latvian ombudsman’s office, between 2018 and 2020, 21% of employees in the country had personally encountered discriminatory treatment at the workplace. In the public statement, ombudsman Juris Jansons urges employers to ensure job posting are in line with anti-discrimination laws.
 

#StandardsForEqualityBodies

Equinet Report: Learnings from the piloting of indicators for the mandate and independence of equality bodies
As part of Eqinet’s project on standards for equality bodies, Equinet used the practical experience and expertise of equality bodies to develop indicators to measure compliance with standards for equality bodies, which could contribute to measuring adherence to the standards. This newly published report  summarisies and evaluates the learnings from the piloting of indicators on the independence and the mandate of equality bodies across the European Union.
 
 
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