Pathways to inclusive and just societies: strategies and innovations in the work of equality bodies in the European Union

In the last two decades, the European anti-discrimination legislation has represented a successful vehicle for the enforcement of non-discrimination and equality principles and for achieving social justice in the world of work among European countries. Nevertheless, some weaknesses are still apparent, especially due to the excessive fragmentation of the legislation and its heterogeneous implementation across Member States. Equality bodies, which were originally designed to extend the protection against discrimination - with competence to analyse the problems involved, to study possible solutions and to provide concrete assistance for the victims - have experienced limitations in their actions because of external and internal factors characterising their mandates, structures, and resources. Eventually, the European Union institutions have proceeded, through the draft of two directive proposals expected to be soon adopted, to strengthen national bodies’ powers and mandate to fight discrimination on grounds of sex, race, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. In this context, it appears crucial to conduct an in-depth investigation of the role played by equality bodies until today, while considering also the newly increased standards provided at the EU level. In order to do so, a comparative analysis is conducted on two levels: the first level relates to the weighting of the changes made at the regulatory level in the two draft directives in comparison with the previous provisions; the second level concerns the assessment of legal frameworks, policies and initiatives that support equality bodies’ actions across different European countries, taking into account the impact of socio-economic factors, legal and institutional structures.