Legislative Review of the Danish Board for Equal Treatment

Policy Response DateMarch 2, 2012 Country: Denmark General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, Afrophobia, Arabophobia, Anti-roma/zinghanophobia, Religious intolerance, Inter-ethnic, Intra-ethnic, Homophobia, On grounds of disability, On grounds of other belief, Xenophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants, Refugees, Roma & Travelers, Muslims, Ethnic minorities, Religious minorities, Linguistic minorities, Majority, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, Persons with disability, Africans/black people, National minorities Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Employment - labour market, Housing, Health and social protection, Education, Anti-discrimination, Religion

According to article 13 of Directive 43/2000/EF, each Member State must designate a body to, i.a., assist victims of discrimination. In 2009, the existing article 13-body was merged into a joint Board for Equal Treatment with the mandate to receive complaints not only about racial/ethnic discrimination, but also on account of gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and religion. It was also decided that this new Board was to be evaluated by year 2011 and that any changes needed should be presented as a Bill in the Danish Parliament in this connection.

During the summer of 2011, a number of social partners/organisations commented on the need for changes of the Board, and on February 9, 2012 the Government presented its draft Bill. Here it was made clear that the suggestions for expanding the mandate of the Board, allow for oral and not just written material as well as other proposals are not to be included at this time. A proposal that the Board may consider cases of discrimination without concrete victims will, however, be reconsidered in the future.

Moreover, it is proposed that the secretariat of the Board should have extended competence to reject complaints (as this is already happening) without involving Members of the Board.

This proposed Bill will be forwarded to the Danish Parliament soon; however, it should be noticed that the UN Committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in its latest examination of Denmark, stated amongst other that:

”8. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the Board’s complaint-lodging procedure to enable complainants to provide oral testimony, which will also assist the panel of the Board to assess and appreciate the demeanour of the parties to the complaint. The Committee urges the State party to revise the procedure of the Board to ensure that the Secretariat does not usurp the powers of the Board by rejecting complaints before they are considered by the panel.” (CERD/C/DNK/CO/18-19, 20 September 2010)

The Danish Government seems to be doing the exact opposite in the beginning of 2012.