Participants of different backgrounds, including academics, legal practitioners and human rights activists from all regions of the world took part in this event.
The principles formulated and agreed by the experts through a two-year-long consultative process are based on concepts and jurisprudence developed in international, regional and national legal contexts.
This is the approach followed in defining discrimination in the European Union equality Directives, as well as in the national legislation of a number of the EU member states.
As an established common ground, the Declaration can therefore serve as the basis for further elaboration of specific legal standards related to equality issues.
The Standing Committee acts on behalf of PACE when the latter is not in session, and its Resolutions and Recommendations have identical legal status with those of the full assembly.
Referring to its Resolution on the Declaration of Principles on Equality and activities of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers: 1.1. enhance efforts aimed at speeding up ratification of Protocol No.
5) by the members states which have not yet done so; 1.2. disseminate information on good practices in the implementation of policies aimed at combating discrimination and inequalities; 1.3. ensure that the Declaration is taken into account in the work of the different Council of Europe bodies and expert groups dealing with the issues of equality and non-discrimination; 1.4. promote the Declaration in its dealings with external actors, and in particular with policymakers from the Council of Europe member states; 2.
Moreover, recalling the necessity of harmonising the interpretation and implementation of the rights to equality and non-discrimination, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers: 2.1. step up co-operation with the European Union on the consolidation of standards in the area of non-discrimination and promotion of equality; 2.2. pursue co-operation with other international organisations, in particular the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations and its Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, with a view to achieving coherent interpretations of the principles of equality and non-discrimination and the implementation of common policies in the field of combating discrimination and inequalities.” The Resolution and Recommendation were proposed by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (CLAHR), whose member Boriss Cilevics (Latvia) was the Rapporteur on the matter.
The position of the CLAHR, which was adopted in June 2011 in Oslo, was preceded by a hearing held in Paris on 8 March 2011, at which The Equal Rights Trust provided testimony.