Equinet
Equinet is the European Network of Equality Bodies. It serves as a professional platform for cooperation, capacity building and peer support amongst Equality Bodies around the legal interpretation and implementation in practice of the EU equal treatment Directives and around the promotion of equality and the elimination of discrimination.
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Type | Not-for-profit |
| Focus | Anti-discrimination, equality |
| Location | |
Area served | Europe |
| Method | Coordinating, Informing policy, Training |
Members | 47 (2020) |
Key people | Anne Gaspard, Co-Director; Tamás Kádár, Co-Director; Tena Šimonović Einwalter, Ombudswoman, Ombudswoman, Croatia |
| Website | www.equineteurope.org |
National Equality Bodies have been established on the basis of the EU equal treatment Directives. This legislation provides that each Member State shall have (at least) one Equality Body with the power to, among other, give independent assistance to victims of discrimination. The Equality Bodies are specialised authorities whose staff are trained and experienced to handle cases of discrimination. They are empowered to counteract discrimination across the range of grounds including age, disability, gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
Equinet is an umbrella organisation for European equality bodies and has no mandate to provide any kind of legal assistance to individual victims of discrimination. The organisation however provides contact details (see below) for equality bodies based in all EU Member States and beyond.