A New Era for Equality Bodies: MPG participates in EQUINET’s high-level roundtable on the Standards Directive for Equality Bodies

The high-level roundtable and networking event, Together for Equality, Stronger for All: Celebrating Standards for Equality Bodies, organised by Equinet, European Network of Equality Bodies, marked the historic adoption of the Standards Directives for Equality Bodies in May 2024. The event showcased Equinet and its members’ crucial role in advancing the negotiations on this legislation from 2022 to 2024. By bringing together key stakeholders – national ministries, European institutions, and civil society – the event raised awareness of the Standards’ significance and encourage their effective transposition at the national level. Supported by the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency and Unia, the event concluded with a networking reception and dinner to foster further collaboration.

MPG’s Director, Isabelle Chopin, was among the panelists and went through the journey leading to the adoption of the Standards Directives and lessons learned in strengthening equality bodies across Europe.

During the discussion, Isabelle reflected on the early MPG’s work in the 1990s on the Starting Line proposal for a European directive on racial and religious discrimination already including a provision requiring the establishment of equality bodies with litigation powers. She reminded participants that at the time only few countries had specific legislation or equality bodies (such as Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK) and those with such bodies had more effective systems for supporting victims and implementing anti-discrimination laws. Isabelle emphasised the critical difficulty for victims to access justice and the role that should be played by equality bodies in providing access to justice, handling complaints, conducting investigations and making decisions.

She also highlighted MPG’s continuous advocacy for stronger equality bodies, including MPG’s role in establishing Equinet. While MPG celebrated the adoption of the 2000 Directives, the disappointment laid in the fact that the bodies were not required to be independent or have litigation powers. MPG’s ongoing work, through the European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, has provided important reports and assessments to support the European Commission’s efforts to strengthen these bodies.

Looking ahead, Isabelle highlighted MPG’s commitment to monitoring the national implementation of the new Standards Directives, continuing to work with partners and the European Commission to ensure equality bodies can effectively combat discrimination across Europe.