TGEU takes part in Equality Summit “Cooperation for Equality”
Transgender Europe is participating in the Third Equality Summit, which is held on 16–17 November in Stockholm. The Summit is co-organised by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union and the European Commission.
This is an high-ranking annual event for ministers, chairs of national equality bodies, chairs of NGOs at EU level, EU social partners and representatives of international organisations. The purpose is to share knowledge and experience so as to develop stronger and more effective ways of working against all forms of discrimination, and to promote equal rights and opportunities for all in the EU.
The 3rd Equality Summit, following its predecessors in Berlin 2007 and in Paris last year, has as its main theme cooperation for equality between different stakeholders and different levels.
The aims for this annual Summit are to promote equal rights and equal opportunities for all in the European Union, and to share knowledge and experiences in order to develop more effective ways of counteracting all forms of discrimination.
More information on the Summit can be found here.
Programme
The 3rd Equality Summit – Cooperation for Equality!
16 and 17 November, Stockholm
The Summit is co-organised by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union and the European Commission.
Main theme
The 3rd Equality Summit, following its predecessors in Berlin 2007 and in Paris last year, has as its main theme cooperation for equality between different stakeholders and different levels.
The aims for this annual Summit are to promote equal rights and equal opportunities for all in the European Union, and to share knowledge and experiences in order to develop more effective ways of counteracting all forms of discrimination.
Responsibility for combating discrimination lies with all of us. In order for the work for equal rights and against discrimination to be successful, cooperation and interactivity at every level and between all parties – governmental, local and regional authorities, NGO:s, Social Partners, commercial enterprises and media – is vital. All these parties are necessary to create a Europe in which every individual is respected regardless of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Flexibility is key when one wants to make the best use of all available resources.
This is necessary in our complex society.
For the 3rd Equality Summit, special attention will be paid to the situation for Roma as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in our societies.
Workshops
Workshop 1 – Equality based governance works!
This workshop will be divided into two parts; mainstreaming equality and diversity management.
Mainstreaming equality is a topic inherited from the 2nd Equality Summit in Paris. Several interesting tools will be discussed, for instance different national/local /regional policies/strategies and indicators. A comparison with gender mainstreaming could also be useful in this case. What are the difficulties related to other grounds? Are Equality Bodies the future for Europe? When does it work? Why does it fail? A report from the Governmental Expert Group on anti-discrimination and the results from a seminar on the same topic in Finland in September 2009 will feed the debates.
An increasing number of European companies are adopting diversity and equality strategies, not only for ethical and legal reasons, but also for the business benefits they are expected to deliver. As of yet, only a few Member States have launched national charters for diversity – against discrimination. Half of the companies in a European survey have yet to develop diversity policies and practices and point to the lack of information and awareness of diversity issues as their biggest challenge. Employers’ organisations and trade unions have a key role to play when it comes to the dissemination of good practice materials. This could be an ideal opportunity to promote diversity management and thus providing an impetus for further action by employers and trade unions in combating discrimination and promoting workplace diversity.
Workshop 2 – Equality legislation – today and tomorrow
This workshop will focus on discussions concerning the draft anti-discrimination directive and the issue of multiple discrimination, which is another topic inherited from the 2nd Equality Summit in Paris.
In the Member States, multiple discrimination can be either explicitly prohibited in legislation or be implicitly protected against. Some issues to be discussed: Does a single anti-discrimination Act protect against this phenomenon? Are Equality Bodies part of the solution? Should aggravated damages be awarded if multiple discrimination is found? Do policy initiatives help? Is multiple discrimination a problem in practice? A report from the Governmental Expert Group on anti-discrimination will feed the debates.
Workshop 3 – Stakeholders for equality
Cooperation between public (national, regional, and local) authorities, NGO:s, Social Partners, the business sector, media and other stakeholders is necessary to create resilient systems that are elastic and sustainable and can cope with future pressures. New ways of cooperation and networking can be discussed to ensure that discrimination in the workplace is eliminated and equal opportunities are promoted. Another important topic is how to make the non-discrimination rights effective on local/regional/national levels. The results from the Commission’s conference ”The role of civil society and trade unions in combating discrimination”, which took place in Budapest in June 2009, will feed the debates.
Workshop 4 – Equality and the role of media
Media raise public awareness about the value of equality in society, both in terms of opportunity and challenge as well as keeping people informed about the events and changes taking place in the world around them. But are the media playing this role effectively? How is the role of media affected by fragmenting media landscapes? How can professional media work together with users and communities to promote more equality?
With this in mind media stakeholders at the Equality Summit will gather together to explore and debate:
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the ways in which media contribute to equality and diversity in a Europe of difference and democratic vitality.
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the ways in which media contribute to equality and diversity in the different countries by focusing on different national traditions.
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how the media is also profoundly changing, whereby written press, broadcasting, public or private media all play their different role, but in an increasingly integrated environment.
The recent publication Media4Diversity presenting the results and recommendations of a pan-European mapping study on media and diversity will be available.
Working methods
The Equality Summit will have few formal sessions and a high proportion of work in the four workshops. Interactive methods will be used in both plenary and workshop sessions. Good examples and exchange of experiences will be a high priority throughout the conference and will be included in the results of the conference.
The 3rd Equality Summit aims at promoting dialogue and the exchange of ideas, good practices and opinions. The focus on a few topics with a common theme aims at providing a platform for participants from all sectors to exchange examples of good practices in Member States at national, regional and local level.
Good examples/Best practices
Each Member State, candidate and EEA country, European NGO:s, Social Partner etc will be asked to contribute one good example of the Summit’s main theme cooperation for equality between different stakeholders and different levels. Other topics or threads to be debated in the four workshops can be chosen for the contributions as well. A compilation of all good examples will be published on the Swedish Presidency website as well as on the European Commission website.
Conference languages
Interpretation to and from English, French, German and Swedish will be available at the meeting in the plenary sessions. In addition there will be international and Swedish sign languages, pallen typist in English and hearing loops.
Workshops 1 and 4 will have English as the working language.
Workshop 2 will take place in the plenary room and will have the same interpretation facilities as in the plenary session.
Workshop 3 will have interpretation to and from English and French.
International sign language and hearing loops will be available in all workshops.
Participants
The 3rd Equality Summit will bring together approximately 300 high-level delegates representing European Union Member States, candidate and EEA countries, international organisations, European NGO:s, social partners, business sector, media, academia and civil society.