European Commission published a guide on equality mainstreaming

Not all the people in Europe get the same chances. There are people who are treated badly because they are different. The European Commission has a document. This document should help governments in Europe to make sure that all people have equal chances.

The European Commission’s Dictorate-General for Justice has recently published a Compendium of practice on Non Discrimination/Equality Mainstreaming. It is designed to assist policy-makers and programme managers at local, regional and national level to mainstream non-discrimination/equality in all policy fields. To this end, the compendium offers guidance and presents a variety of practice examples from different EU Member States. The compendium responds to the recommendation of the Non-Discrimination Governmental Expert Group that came out from a good practice exchange seminar on non-discrimination/equality mainstreaming held by the Group in Helsinki in September 2009. The seminar concluded that there was not a consistent understanding of the idea of non-discrimination and equality mainstreaming in all Member States. At the same time, there was limited implementation of this mainstreaming in policy processes. Therefore, the need for European Union level guidance in this field proved to be imperative.

In the compendium, non-discrimination/equality mainstreaming is defined as “the systematic incorporation of non-discrimination and equality concerns into all stages of the policy process. It is implemented on the six grounds of gender, racial or ethnic origin, disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.”Non-discrimination/equality mainstreaming should be implemented in all stages of the policy process, that is designing and making the policy, implementing the policy, and evaluating and reviewing the policy.

In its 60 pages, the Compendium suggests a strategic approach to non-discrimination and elaborates on the practice of it in policy making, in policy implementation and policy review at Member State level with case studies from all over Europe.

As it is underlined in the compendium, “many objectives can be identified for this non-discrimination/equality mainstreaming:

1. To ensure compliance of the policy with the provisions of equal treatment legislation.

2. To eliminate any barriers for groups experiencing inequality which limit the impact of the policy on these groups.

3. To adapt the policy to the specific experience, situation and identity of different groups experiencing inequality.

4. To advance equality for groups experiencing inequality in the area covered by the policy. 5. To foster good relations between the wider society and groups experiencing inequality."

People with intellectual disabilities undoubtedly belong to the group of citizens who experience inequality and discrimination in their everyday lives. Inclusion Europe welcomes this initiative of the European Commission with the hope that it will contribute to the establishment of non-discrimination policies in all European countries.

To download the Compendium of the European Commission, click here.