On 16-17 October 2014 in Belgrade, Equinet, with the support and hosting of the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Equality, organised a training event on positive action measures.
Objectives
EU equal treatment legislation on all discrimination grounds allows Member States to introduce positive action measures in order to ‘ensure full equality in practice’. However, the limits, the legality and the effectiveness of such measures are often debated in practice.
This Equinet training will build on the discussions in the working group Equality Law in Practice and it will analyse the legal questions relating to the application of positive action measures on the basis of EU Equal Treatment Directives by discussing concrete cases and policies on different grounds of discrimination. The training will take account of good practice examples as well as the effectiveness and impact of the existing legislation, policies and practices.
The training will feature presentations by eminent external speakers and experts of equality bodies as well as interactive workshop sessions.
This training will enable equality bodies’ staff to:
- Learn about the legal concept of positive action measures
- Familiarise with the practice relating to positive action measures in different European and non-European countries
- Share their knowledge and experience both formally during the sessions and informally during the breaks
- Learn about good practice initiatives and projects by other equality bodies
- Return to their jobs better equipped to judge the legality and effectiveness of positive action measures
- Provide more informed recommendations to decision-makers
- Upon their return inform their colleagues about the lessons learned at the training
Key Themes
The following key topics will be addressed at the training.
- Legal framework, case law and preconditions – what is and what isn’t positive action?
- Making the case for the use of positive action and improving the take up of such measures
- Good practice examples – positive action measures that work
- Ensuring and evaluating the effectiveness of positive action
Download
Agenda for Training on Positive Action
Summary of Equinet Legal Training
Speakers’ presentations
OPENING SESSION
- Introducing Equinet’s work on positive action – Tamás Kádár (Senior Policy Officer, Equinet Secretariat)
SESSION 1 – POSITIVE ACTION IN EUROPE AND IN THE WORLD
- ¨International perspectives on positive action measures – Prof. Uduak Archibong (University of Bradford)
SESSION 2 – CHALLENGES OF APPLYING POSITIVE ACTION
- Legal preconditions of positive action in the EU legal order – Goran Selanec (Deputy Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, Croatia)
SESSION 4 – EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE ACTION (WORKSHOP)
- Italy – Career days to foster diversity at work (slide 1) – Marco Buemi Italy – Career days to foster diversity at work (slide 2) – Marco Buemi
- Romania – Parliamentary representation of minorities – István Haller
- Sweden – Equality clauses in public contracts – Paul Lappalainen
SESSION 5 – EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE ACTION (WORKSHOP)
- Austria – Positive action in housing for women – Monika Groser
- Great Britain – Public sector equality duty and positive actions in education and healthcare – Claire Lesko
- Serbia – Measures to improve the position of women – Tijana Milošević – Milica Pavićević
SESSION 6 – THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POSITIVE ACTION MEASURES
- Using statistics to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of positive action measures – Patrick Simon (French National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED))
- The role of equality bodies in making positive action effective – Aidan Fitzpatrick (Equality Commission for Northern Ireland)
Recommended reading
- Equinet report on the implementation of the race and employment framework directives
- Equinet report ‘A question of faith – religion and belief in Europe’
- Joint Report on the application of Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (‘Racial Equality Directive’) and of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (‘Employment Equality Directive’)
- International perspectives on positive action measures – A comparative analysis in the European Union, Canada, the United States and South Africa
- Beyond Formal Equality – Positive Action under Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC
- Positive Action Measures to Ensure Full Equality in Practice between Men and Women, including on Company Boards
- Putting Equality into Practice – What role for positive action?
- The Benefits of Positive Action Thematic Discussion Paper
- Making equality effective: the role of proactive measures
- Positive Action guide Equality Commission for Northern Ireland Oct 2010
Case law:
- C-312/86 «Commission v. France» (1988)
- C-450/93 «Kalanke» (1995)
- C-409/95 «Marschall» (1997)
- C-158/97 «Badeck» (2000)
- C-407/98 «Abrahamsson» (2000)
- C-79/99 «Schnorbus» ( 2000)
- C-366/99 «Griesmar» (2001)
- C-476/99 «Lommers» ( 2002)
- C-319/03 «Briheche» ( 2004)