Equinet Training on Positive Action Measures
The Equinet Training on Positive Action Measures, held in Belgrade on 16-17 October, brought together over 50 participants from national and international equality and anti-discrimination institutions from Europe, USA, European Commission and Serbia. One of the feature presentations by eminent external speakers and experts of equality bodies in the interactive workshop sessions was the presentation of Danica Todorov, the Gender Equality Deputy Ombudsman with the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman.
The aim of the training was to build on the discussions in the working group Equality Law in Practice and analyze 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 focusing on good practice examples and the effectiveness and impact of the existing legislation, policies and practices, Danica Todorov shared experience from the Provincial Ombudsman Approaching Female and Male Citizens project supported by UN Women concerning advocating implementation of the Gender Equality Law provisions in three public companies in Vojvodina. One of the project aims was for the regional electricity supplier Elektrovojvodina and forestry management public company Vojvodinašume, as well as a local water and sewage management company from Subotica, was to deliver a one-day staff and management training on gender equality, so they would later officially adopt the UN Women and Global Pact Women's Empowerment Principles and develop plans for improvements in the field of gender equality in their companies.
'Two of the three examples we shared indicate that positive action measures have concrete results and introduce change, but they require a flexible approach, a good analysis and readiness to adapt to any and every specific situation during implementation. Positive action measures are a good instrument for eliminating discrimination, including the structural one, and have a positive impact on equal opportunities,' concluded the Deputy Ombudsman.
Besides Vojvodina, experience in applying positive actin measures in employment, minority representation, housing for women, education, healthcare and women's position improvement in general was presented also by representatives of Norway, Romania, Sweden, Austria, Great Britain and Serbia. The subsequent discussions also tackled challenges of positive actin measures implementation, the role of statistics in implementation monitoring and the role of equality bodies in general.
Eqinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies founded in 2002, brings together 41 organizations from 31 European countries, which are empowered to counteract discrimination as national equality bodies across the range of grounds including age, disability, gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.