• EQUINET
  • About Equinet
  • Members' Profiles
  • Why join?
  • Working Groups
  • The Board
  • Secretariat
  • Vacancies
• Equality Bodies
• News
• Events
  • Equinet Events
  • External Events
• Policy developments in Europe
• Publications
  • Equinet Publications
  • Members Publications
  • Other Publications
• Public education campaigns
• Member in the Spotlight
• Know your rights
• Useful links
  • EU Networks and Platforms
  • European and international organisations
  • Other links

What is an equality body?

Equality bodies function as independent organisations giving assistance to victims of discrimination, monitoring and reporting on discrimination issues, and promoting equality. They have a statutory remit to promote equality and combat discrimination in relation to one, some or all of the grounds covered by the EU Equal Treatment Directives – gender, race and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief and disability.

The European equal treatment legislation requires Member States to set up an equality body. Most of them have implemented the racial equality Directive (2000/43/EC) and the gender equal treatment Directives (2002/73/EC and 2004/113/EC) either by designating some existing institution or by setting up a new institution to carry out the competences assigned by the new legislation. However, there are no specific guidelines to Member States on how these bodies should operate. Now, more than six years after the implementation date of the Racial Equality Directive and the gender equal treatment Directives, a wide variety of practices concerning equality bodies are flourishing in the EU Member States. So far, European anti-discrimination law only requires that equality bodies are set up in the fields of race and ethnic origin and gender. However, many countries have bodies that deal with other grounds of discrimination as well.

Equality bodies are required to have the function to provide independent assistance to victims of discrimination. This function can involve a range of activities:

• including providing information about the existence of anti-discrimination legislation and about the possibility to take legal action to secure redress for discrimination,
• referring the people who experience discrimination to an organisation/institution that could assist them, assisting people who experience discrimination to come to an amicable settlement (mediation) and
• providing legal advice and representation to people who have experienced discrimination. 

Equality bodies are further required to have the functions of

• conducting independent surveys concerning discrimination,
• publishing independent reports and making recommendations on any issue relating to discrimination. 

Most equality bodies also have functions to promote equal treatment e.g. through information campaigns aimed at the general public or through providing support to employers and service providers in relation to good equality practice.

Equality bodies in Europe

For a list of equality bodies, click here.