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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— village December - January
“The budget of
the Lithuanian
equality body was
cut by 40%.”
Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and others are lacerating
their equality budgets too
n i a l l c r o w l e y
the Irish Government cut
the budget of the Equality Authority by an
extraordinary and disproportionate %.
Equinet, the European Union network of spe-
cialised equality bodies, wrote to Dermot
Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law
Reform, to express serious concern. Equinet
was particularly concerned that the Irish
Government, which had previously pioneered
high standards for the European Union with
the establishment of the Equality Authority,
was now pulling back. Equinet wasright to
fear the power of a bad example. Since then
it has had to express similar concerns in four
other member states.
In Latvia the equality body is housed
in the office of the Ombudsman for the
Republic of Latvia. A significant budget cut
led to proposals for the reorganization of the
office. The Department for Discrimination
Prevention, the unit responsible for equal-
ity, is to be subsumed into a wider legal unit.
Specialist expertise and priority focus on dis-
crimination issues would be lost.
The budget of the Lithuanian equality
body was cut by %. Proposals have been
developed to merge the equality ombudsman
with the ombudsman for children’s rights
and or to put both bodies under the remit of
the parliamentary ombudsman. Specialist
expertise and priority focus on discrimina-
tion would be lost.
The Bulgarian Council of Ministers pub-
lished a draft decision to cut expenses by
reducing the members of independent reg-
ulatory bodies to a maximum of five. This
would reduce the number of Commissioners
on the Bulgarian Commission for Protection
against Discrimination from nine. The body
plays the functions of a tribunal in deciding
cases of discrimination. This proposal would
result in long delays in hearing these cases.
The Bulgarian Parliament refused to accept
the annual report for of the Bulgarian
equality body, accusing the body of only
defending Roma and other minority ethnic
people.
The budget of the Romanian National
Council for Combating Discrimination was
cut by % and further cuts are expected. At
times their budget lines have been blocked by
their Department of Finance. The mandate
of four of the nine members of the Council
has been expired for several months with
no replacement. The mandate of two other
members is due to expire. The Council plays
a tribunal role and needs a minimum major-
ity of five members to decide on cases of dis-
crimination. Independence and effectiveness
are threatened.
These bodies represented % of
Equinet’s membership. At the AGM
of Equinet it emerged that other equality
bodies too are struggling against similar
assaults. The recession is being used as a
cover to reverse the advances made under the
European Equal Treatment Directives.
Media reports highlighted political inter-
ference with the independence of equal-
ity bodies in Germany,France and Britain.
The political links of the leadership of the
German body were criticised. A politicial
initiative sought to reduce the budget of the
French body by %. The chairperson of
the British body was reappointed by govern-
ment despite high profile resignations from
the board that raised issues of governance
and financial probity in the body.
The independence and effectiveness of
the equality bodies are under attack. The
independence of the equality bodies is evi-
dent in the choices they make to take on pow-
erful interests in society and in the manner
in which they articulate key equality issues.
Independence requires leadership without
fear of retribution. Effectiveness is about
the quality and the scale of the work done.
Equality bodies need to engage in a critical
mass of work – below which they become
irrelevant and fail to make any impact on
the issues of discrimination and inequality
in society.
An examination of this backlash against
»
the equality bodies demonstrates five
different ways in which they are being
undermined. These are:-
Disproportionate cutting of budgets
»
such that the equality body can no longer
engage in the critical mass of work neces-
sary to be effective.
Restructuring equality bodies due to
»
budget cuts such that key skills and focus
on discrimination issues are lost.
Merging the equality bodies with other
»
organizations exercising unrelated func-
tions so that skills, profile and focus on
discrimination are lost.
Failing to appoint commissioners to the
»
equality body or politicising the appoint-
ment of commissioners so that independ-
ence is lost.
Extending the mandate of the equal-
»
ity body by adding new responsibilities
without additional resources so that
resources are spread too thinly to make
an impact.
Equality
