The Annual General Assembly of the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet) opened on 12 October 2023 in Brussels with a discussion on how to advance equality in Europe and the process of adopting standards for equality bodies.
The Assembly was held under the chairmanship of Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter, the outgoing Chair of the Equinet Executive Board.
Following Ombudswoman Šimonović Einwalter’s third term as Chair of Equinet—during which she continues her work within the organisation on the adoption of standards for equality bodies—a new leadership was elected at the General Assembly for a two-year term. Patrick Charlier, Director of the Belgian equality body UNIA, was elected Chair of the Executive Board.
Alongside him, the members of the Executive Board are: Carla Tavares, President of the Portuguese institution CITE; Lars Arrhenius, Head of the Swedish equality body; Sandra Konstatzky, Director of the Austrian equality body; Christian Veske, Estonian Commissioner for Equality; Rainer Hiltunen, Finnish Ombudsman for Equality; Kalliopi Lykovardi, Deputy Greek Ombudsperson; Rhoda Garland, Maltese Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and Miha Lobnik, Head of the Slovenian equality body.
As part of the Assembly, the Ukrainian equality body was unanimously admitted to Equinet’s membership. It was represented by Dmytro Lubinets, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliament. The accession of this institution—whose mandate includes combating discrimination and protecting equality—is also part of Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership and will further strengthen the network.
During the Assembly, a discussion was held on recent developments related to discrimination and equality at the EU level, with particular focus on the proposed directives on standards for equality bodies.
Ombudswoman Šimonović Einwalter led this high-level discussion with participants including European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli; Vice-President of the European Parliament Marc Angel; Equality Advisor to the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU Rocio Arino Serrano; Equality Advisor to the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU Katarzyna Szkuta; and Catherine Naughton, Director of the European Disability Forum.
Additionally, on the following day, 13 October 2023, the conference titled “The Other Side of the Law: Implementing Anti-Discrimination Legislation” was held, aimed at all stakeholders in the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws—primarily legal professionals from equality bodies, national and European lawmakers, and civil society organisations.
Equality and the fight against discrimination are fundamental to the development of any democratic society. However, the precondition for this is the effective implementation of equality legislation. It was concluded that the current EU anti-discrimination directives insufficiently prescribe guidance related to sanctions for such cases, leading to varied interpretations across Member States and often to sanctions that are not sufficiently stringent. As a result, these sanctions fail to meet the EU legal requirement of being dissuasive in cases of discrimination law violations.