Propuesta de valor.

Whilst the Fr ench data protection law47 _{states in article 8 that data collection and}

dissemination of data which reveal, directly or indirectly, racial or ethnic origins is prohibited, in July 2005 a recommendation by the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (“CNIL”) declared, in a recommendation of 09.07.2005, that the French data protection legislation does not hinder the "temporary" collection of certain information related to the ethnic origin of individuals if the aim is to take action against discrimination. Certain conditions (the list is not exhaustive) need to be met however:

Data collected and used need to be directly linked with the objective;

Individuals concerned as well as staff representatives need to be informed (before the data processing is started);

The data processing must remain confidential;

The statistics must relate to a group of more than 10 people;

The individual data files must be destroyed once the desired statistics have been produced; and

CNIL needs to be informed.

This recommendation is of great importance in France, since it will enable, to a certain extent, some data collection on discrimination and diversity, and this will allow more precise surveys and better detection of problem areas.

In Lithuania, on 01.04.2005, the NGO Human Rights Monitoring Institute launched the Roma Rights programme of legal assistance to Roma.48 _{The lawyer}

group at the Roma Rights programme mainly focuses on problems that affect Roma in general, however, assistance in individual cases is also provided. This is the first non-governmental initiative in Lithuania of this kind.

In Hungar y, the new specialised body for equal treatment is the Equal Treatment Authority. The Equal Treatment Authority is noteworthy for its far reaching powers in support of victims of discrimination. It may intervene in the judicial review of an administrative decision made by another public administration body concerning the principle of equal treatment. It may also act as a representative of the victim of discrimination before courts if authorised by the victim of

47

Law France n° 20004-801 (06-08-2004) relative à la protection des personnes physiques à l'égard des traitements de données à caractère personnel et modifiant la loi n° 78-17 du 6 janvier 1978 relative à l'informatique, aux fichiers et aux libertés

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=JUSX0100026L (16.05.2006). 48

Available at:

http://www.hrmi.lt/downloads/structure//Romu_padeties_analize_20050412%20ENG121.pdf (15.10.2005).

discrimination. It may also take legal action in the public interest to protect the rights of persons and groups whose rights have been violated. Although the Authority had not yet prepared its first annual report,49 it has, in a number of occasions, ruled on discriminatory practices. Another example of a specialised body with strong powers to support victims of discrimination in the EU 10 is the

Slovak National Centre for Human Rights.

In the Nether lands, a national telephone number – 0900-235435 (0900-belgelijk) – and the website www.belgelijk.nl was set up in June 2004 as a central contact point for complaints of discrimination. Also the campaign “Discrimination? Bel gelijk!” was launched to make the phone number and website better known. 50 _Research

shows that since the start of the campaign the national phone number has been called approximately 80 times a month and the number of visitors to the internet site has risen from 227 in June 2004 to 2,612 in January 2005.51

Also in the Nether lands, the Centre for Work and Income (CWI) is the national employment authority.52 _{The CWI non-discrimination code 2005 went into effect}

on 6 March 2005.53 _{The code is focused on the CWI’s relationship with its}

customers. If there are complaints of discrimination against the CWI itself, it is always possible to lodge a complaint within the CWI. If there are complaints of discrimination by an employer or job seeker, the CWI can be informed of the fact and a complaint can be lodged with the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission.54

In Sweden, the city of Stockholm adopted a policy in January 2005 to include anti- discrimination clauses in all of the city’s public contracts.55 _{Those holding contracts}

with the city are put on notice:

That an integral part of the contract is the agreement to follow the existing Swedish laws concerning discrimination due to sex, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability or sexual orientation;

That the clause is to be applied to sub-contractors;

That the city retains the right to request that the contractor explain in writing how it is complying with these laws; and

That the city retains the right to cancel the contract if the contractor violates the above provisions.

49

Preliminary reports (in Hungarian) may be found at http://www.egyenlobanasmod.hu/ (30.09.2005).

50

Kortenbach, A., Discrimination? A call away, Equal Rights in Practice, key voices 2005 Access to Justice, p. 6, 2005.

51

See press release 05/053, Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment: “Meer mensen vinden meldpunt discriminatie op werk” (More people finding discrimination complaints bureau at work), The Hague, March 2005.

52

See http://www.cwinet.nl (16.05.2006). 53

Staatscourant (Government Gazette) 2005, no. 45. 54

Non-discrimination code CWI 2005, CWI 2005/004. 55

Stockholm municipal council (2005) Protokoll, sammanträde 2005-01-2, availibleat: www.stockholm.se (01.11.2005).

The city of Stockholm has also decided to include anti-discrimination conditions in liquor permits granted to restaurants. This is intended to curb the ethnic discrimination that is reported to occur at various popular nightclubs. Another related condition is the setting up of signs that outline the conditions of entry.