Statement by the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and the Deputy-Commissioner responsible for the Rights of National Minorities on the Equinet seminar on fighting discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin, organised in the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights - AJBH-EN
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null Statement by the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and the Deputy-Commissioner responsible for the Rights of National Minorities on the Equinet seminar on fighting discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin, organised in the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
Statement by the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and the Deputy-Commissioner responsible for the Rights of National Minorities on the Equinet seminar on fighting discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin, organised in the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
On the 9th and the 10th of November 2016 the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights hosted a seminar organised by Equinet, focusing on the fight against discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin.
Equinet is a non-profit organisation functioning as the European network of equality bodies and it is very active in promoting equal treatment and in the fight against discrimination. It has 46 members from 34 countries with the Equal Treatment Authority and the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights representing Hungary.
Commissioner for Fundamental Rights László Székely emphasized that, despite of the positive developments in Europe in the fields of protecting human rights and facilitating equal treatment, there are several areas where the Member States have to face challenges. Unfortunately, we still encounter in many countries of Europe racial and ethnic discrimination of minorities, in particular Roma people, who remain the most disadvantaged and persecuted group in society. Discriminations against the Roma are rooted in the prejudices present in the society and they form part of a complex set of problems related to welfare, education, employment and housing issues. These discriminations often end up in making the affected persons victims of hate crimes.
Deputy-Commissioner Elisabeth Sándor-Szalay pointed out that the Equinet seminar was an excellent opportunity for dialogue at European level, where leading experts on this topic shared their knowledge with the staff members of European equality bodies. The examination of case studies, best practices and the joint processing of problems will surely help us to be more prepared to face the challenges. As the most important lessons learnt from the successful seminar, the deputy-commissioner underlined the complex nature of human rights challenges, the importance of the wide-scale investigative competences of equality and ombudsman bodies, the public trust in these institutions and the role of the media. She stressed that, in the course of protecting fundamental rights, such bodies should use soft actions within their mandates and beyond.
As stressed by Equinet chair Evelyn Collins: although we face today in Europe a general increase of xenophobia as well as hostile public sentiment and discourse against racial and ethnic minorities, this should not deter national and international institutions and organisations from continuing their work based on the firm ground of shared values. She also praised the long-standing commitment of Equinet members to pursuing the above and informed the participants that the draft working paper on fighting discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin would be finalised in the coming weeks.
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Equinet Chair Evelyn Collins, Hungarian Commissioner for Fundamental Rights László Székely, Equinet Executive Director Anne Gaspard and Deputy Commissioner Elisabeth Sándor-Szalay
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