Equality Bodies are independent public organisations that play a central role in implementing, applying and enforcing EU and national equality law at the national level. Despite its diversity in terms of structure, power and functioning, the minimum common competences all of them have are: (I) Supporting victims of discrimination with independent assistance in pursuing their complaints, (II) Conducting independent surveys on discrimination and publishing reports and (III) Making recommendations – including for policy change – on the cases they deal with. 

Although equality bodies were set up following the requirements of EU equality legislation to combat discrimination based on race, ethnic origin and gender, nowadays most of them also cover discrimination based on other grounds, such as disability. As a result, Equality Bodies are one of the places you can address if you want to enforce your rights as contained in the Equal Treatment Directive in Employment and Vocational Training – covering persons with disabilities – the Gender Equality and Race Directives as well as European and national antidiscrimination legislation in different fields such education, housing and transport. Besides, most Equality bodies are the UN CRPD national monitoring mechanism, and they assist in issues related to the rights enshrined in the Convention. 

In most cases, Equality Bodies will take your complaint and attempt to reach amicable out of court settlements. However, the specific things you can expect from them will vary in each country. While some can support victims by offering legal advice and handling complaints through amicable settlements others can engage in litigation processes by representing victims in cases. Some Equality Bodies also have decision-making powers, by making recommendations or taking legally binding decisions on claims made by victims of discrimination.

This diversity in terms of structure, powers and functioning is likely to change soon with the upcoming adoption of standards for equality bodies. Proposed by the European Commission in 2022, these two Directives will set minimum requirements for all existing equality bodies. This will include improved independence, adequate resources, proactive awareness raising measures and more tools to assist victims (including, amicable settlement, litigation powers and accessibility and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities).

• The website of the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet) is a good source of information to understand the work of these bodies.
• If you have been a victim (or are aware) of a case of discrimination, you can contact the Equality Body of your country of residence. In their website, you can find more information about the specific procedure to submit a complaint. The most common ones will be an online form, a telephone call, a physical meeting or a written complaint sent via post.
• There is, at least, one Equality Body in each Member State. Identify the Equality Body active in disability-based discrimination in your country and understand what type of support they can offer you. They might be able to help in many different areas (education, transport, employment…)
• Even if they can’t handle your specific complain, Equality Bodies will be able to provide you with useful information and redirect you to competent bodies.

• In Belgium, an employee within the autistic spectrum was fired due to his disability. After the intervention of the Inter-federal Centre for Equal Opportunities – UNIA (Belgium’s equality body), the company’s management apologised and put in place reasonable accommodation measures (more information on the case dealt by the Belgian equality body).
• In Czechia, a primary school decided to stop the individualised study plan to a student with special needs due to the lack of an up-to-date report from the pedagogic-psychological counselling centre. Thanks to the intervention of the Czech Public Defender of Rights (equality body) the situation was resolved (more information on the case dealt by the Czech equality body).
• In France, an employer refused to accommodate the needs of an employee with a disability and follow the doctor recommendations to reallocate her to another post. The employee decided to contact the Defender of Rights (equality body). After the inquiry, the Defender concluded that the employee had faced a case of discrimination and recommended the company to repair the prejudice made (more information on the case dealt by the French equality body).