Czech Republic pass anti-discrimination legislation

07 Jul 2009

On 17 June, the Lower House of the Czech Parliament passed an act which covers discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, disability, race, ethnic origin, religious affiliation and faith or worldview in several fields including access to employment, business, education, healthcare and social security.

By passing the Anti-Discrimination Act, the Chamber of Deputies took a necessary step to avoid sanctions by the European Commission for not  implementing the obligations contained in the EU Race Equality Directive (Council Directive 2000/43/EC) and the Employment Equality Directive (Council Directive 2000/78/EC).

The Czech Parliament, with its backing to the new piece of legislation, overturned the President's veto, which was justified by the Head of State, Vaclav Klaus, on the basis that existing legal protection in the Czech Republic was already adequate. The Equal Rights Trust, however, sent a letter to the president of the Czech Lower House challenging this statement and proving, with several arguments, the need of an anti-discrimination act, i.e. the lack of a legal definition of discrimination, the non-protection against discrimination in certain fields such as education, social security and access to health and the lack of a specialized equality body.

The Equal Rights Trust expressed its satisfaction about the passing of the act but, through its Executive Director, Dimitrina Petrova. It said the transposition of EC directives is nothing but the first step and it would, in the next years, monitor the effective implementation of the Anti-Discrimination Act.
With the new act, the Czech Public Defender of Rights will be granted far more competences and powers.

For further information

http://romove.radio.cz/en/article/22523
http://www.ceetrust.org/article/306/