Indicator history

A process of consultation exists at the level of some of the parliamentary committees when bills relating to migration and asylum are discussed. The consultation would normally involve KISA, an activist NGO supporting migrants, and a few other NGOs with a research or other interest in the field. However, they are usually given 3 minutes to express their views, which are usually ignored in any case. For the purposes of transposing the anti-discrimination Council Directives, NGOs were given 24 hours to study a large volume of documents and express thier views, because of the deadline for transposition and the delay in preparing the drafts of the laws. The NGO views were not taken into consideration. The process of consultation involves also other stakeholders, such as the equality body (=the ombudsman), the trade unions, UNCHR (when asylum issues are discussed), the Law Commissioner etc. Their views are usually considered more seriously.

 A process of consultation also exists at the level of some ministries when discussing the adoption of national action plans. Again the views of NGOs are viewed as marginal. In some areas (domestic violence, sex trafficking) there are 'multithematic committees' consisting of NGOs and governmental actors set up in order to provide consultation on various policy issues, however NGOs report that these committees are hardly operational, especially in the case of sex trafficking.