Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Equinet

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Founded
  
2007

Location
  
Brussels, Belgium,

Type
  
Not-for-profit

Area served
  
Europe

Equinet httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen668Equ

Focus
  
Anti-discrimination, equality

Method
  
Coordinating, Informing policy, Training

Equinet imagefilm


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.

Contents

Equinet currently consists of 46 Equality Bodies from 34 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.

History

Equinet builds upon the two-year project "Strengthening the co-operation between specialised bodies for the implementation of equal treatment legislation" (2002-2004). The initiative to create a network of equality bodies was taken by the Migration Policy Group, who also acted as Equinet's Secretariat until 2007. 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.

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. 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.

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:

  • 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. 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.

    Members

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

    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.

    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 input.

    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:

  • 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.

    Financing

    Equinet has two key sources of income:

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

    • Programme of the European Union

  • Membership fees

    • References

    Equinet Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA