Equinet

Equinet - the European Network of Equality Bodies

Founded	2007
Type	Not-for-profit
Focus	Anti-discrimination, equality
Location	Brussels, Belgium,
Area served	Europe
Method	Coordinating, Informing policy, Training
Members	42 (2015)
Key people	Anne Gaspard, Executive Director; Evelyn Collins, Chair of the Executive Board and Chief Executive, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
Website	www.equineteurope.org

Equinet is the European Network of Equality Bodies. It serves as a professional platform for cooperation, capacity building and peer support amongst equality bodies around the legal interpretation and implementation in practice of the EU equal treatment Directives and around the promotion of equality and the elimination of discrimination.^[1]

Equinet currently consists of 42 Equality Bodies from 32 different European countries. Members of Equinet have been established on the basis of the EU equal treatment Directives and they are empowered to counteract discrimination across the range of grounds including age, disability, gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.^[2]

History

Equinet builds upon the two-year project "Strengthening the co-operation between specialised bodies for the implementation of equal treatment legislation" (2002-2004).^[3] The initiative to create a network of equality bodies was taken by the Migration Policy Group,^[4] who also acted as Equinet's Secretariat until 2007.^[5] Equinet was established as an independent structure in 2007 with the creation of the Equinet Secretariat in Brussels and its registration as a not-for-profit international association (AISBL) under Belgian law.^[6]

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.^[7] Apart from being a platform for exchange among member equality bodies, Equinet contributes to the wider European debate on matters of equal-treatment and non-discrimination by sharing the experience of equality bodies through so-called perspectives aimed at equality experts and policy-makers.^[8]

Activities

Equinet attempts to strengthen the voice and contributions of national equality bodies to the wider European equality debate. Equinet's input in advancing equality is achieved by:^[1]

• Building capacity and peer support of equality bodies
• Contributing to the European equality agenda
• Serving as a knowledge and communication hub on equal treatment
• Consolidating the network and the position of its members

Equinet is an umbrella organisation for European equality bodies and has no mandate to provide any kind of legal assistance to individual victims of discrimination. The organisation however provides contact details (see next section) for equality bodies based in all EU members states and beyond.^[9] EU anti-discrimination legislation provides that each Member State shall have (at least) one such equality body with the power to, among other, give independent assistance to victims of discrimination. The equality bodies are specialised authorities whose staff are trained and experienced to handle cases of discrimination.^[10]

Members

Most Equinet members belong to the European Union, while four equality bodies come from outside the European Union (Albania, FYRO Macedonia, Norway and Serbia).

List of Equinet members^[2]

Country	Name of the Equality Body	Homepage
Albania	Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination	www.kmd.al
Austria	Ombud for Equal Treatment	www.gleichbehandlungsanwaltschaft.at
Belgium	Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities	www.diversitybelgium.be
	Institute for the Equality of Women and Men	igvm-iefh.belgium.be
Bulgaria	Commission for Protection Against Discrimination	www.kzd-nondiscrimination.com
Croatia	Office of the Ombudsman	www.ombudsman.hr
Croatia	Ombudsperson for Gender Equality	www.prs.hr
Cyprus	Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights (Ombudsman)	www.ombudsman.gov.cy/ombudsman/ombudsman.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocumenty
Czech Republic	Public Defender of Rights	www.ochrance.cz
Denmark	Board of Equal Treatment	www.ligebehandlingsnaevnet.dk
	Danish Institute for Human Rights	www.humanrights.dk
Estonia	Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner	www.svv.ee
Finland	Ombudsman for Equality	www.tasa-arvo.fi
	Non-Discrimination Ombudsman	www.ofm.fi
France	Defender of Rights	www.defenseurdesdroits.fr
Germany	Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency - FADA	www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de
Greece	Greek Ombudsman	www.synigoros.gr
Hungary	Equal Treatment Authority	www.egyenlobanasmod.hu
	Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights	www.ajbh.hu
Ireland	Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission	www.equality.ie
Italy	National Office against Racial Discrimination - UNAR	www.unar.it
	National Equality Councillor	http://www.lavoro.gov.it/ConsiglieraNazionale/Pages/default.aspx
Latvia	Office of the Ombudsman	www.tiesibsargs.lv
Lithuania	Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson	www.lygybe.lt
Luxembourg	Centre for Equal Treatment	www.cet.lu
Macedonia	Commission for Protection against Discrimination	www.kzd.mk
Malta	National Commission for the Promotion of Equality – NCPE	www.equality.gov.mt
	National Commission for Persons with Disability	http://www.knpd.org/index.html
Netherlands	Netherlands Institute for Human Rights	www.mensenrechten.nl
Norway	Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud	www.ldo.no
Poland	Human Rights Defender	www.rpo.gov.pl
Portugal	High Commission for Migration – ACIDI	www.acidi.gov.pt
	Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality – CIG	www.cig.gov.pt
	Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment - CITE	www.cite.gov.pt
Romania	National Council for Combating Discrimination	www.cncd.org.ro
Serbia	Commissioner for the Protection of Equality	www.ravnopravnost.gov.rs
Slovakia	National Centre for Human Rights	www.snslp.sk
Slovenia	Advocate of the Principle of Equality	www.zagovornik.net
Spain	Council for the Elimination of Ethnic or Racial Discrimination	www.igualdadynodiscriminacion.msssi.es/home.do
Sweden	Equality Ombudsman	www.do.se
UK (Great Britain)	Equality and Human Rights Commission	www.equalityhumanrights.com
UK (Northern Ireland)	Equality Commission for Northern Ireland	www.equalityni.org

Organizational Structure

Governance

General Assembly of Members

The main decisions concerning the general direction of Equinet are taken by the General Assembly of Members. This assembly is made up of all the members of the network and is convened at least once a year for an annual general meeting (AGM). The General Assembly has the power to approve new members and, following a nomination process by members, to vote for representatives on the Executive Board etc.^[11]

Executive Board

Management and administration of the network is delegated to the Executive Board. The Board is also responsible for the preparation and implementation of the AGM’s decisions. Executive Board Members, the advisor to the Board and the treasurer receive no salary for their inputt.^[12]

Working Groups

Working groups are composed of staff from member organisations and led by a moderator. Working groups are the main medium for the sharing of expertise between different equality bodies. There were four Equinet Working Groups in 2015:^[13]

• Equality Law in Practice – supporting equality bodies in their legal work
• Gender Equality – supporting the effective promotion of gender equality and the combat against gender discrimination by equality bodies
• Communication Strategies and Practices – supporting equality bodies in their communication work
• Policy Formation – supporting a dialogue on the learning from the work of equality bodies

The Secretariat

The Secretariat reports to the Executive Board and implements the annual work plan of the organisation. It is responsible for the daily activities of the network and assists individual members with their requests. It assists and coordinates the work of the Working Groups. There are 6 employees working at the Equinet secretariat.^[14]

Financing

Equinet has two key sources of income:^[15]

• Grant of the European Commission under Rights, Equality and Citizenship

Programme of the European Union^[16]

• Membership fees

References