Syaatulwe’sx ewmeenxunxi wejxa

Some positive initiatives are more relevant to some Member States than others, because of differences in contexts, such as the extent to which ‘legal discrimination’ excludes non-nationals from certain areas of employment (see

section 3.9). As stated earlier, in Estonia the lack of citizenship can be an obstacle

for employment, particularly in the public sector. Therefore, projects which aim to speed up the tempo of naturalisation may be seen as positive for the equality of minority and majority members in the labour market. A new project ‘Support to naturalisation of people with undefined citizenship’ was started in spring 2006 to prepare stateless residents for a naturalisation exam on knowledge of the

Constitution and the Law on Citizenship.255 _{Free training was to be available to}

10,000 stateless persons in 2006-2007. By October 2006 418 persons completed the training.256

In Ireland the requirement of certified proficiency in both the Irish and

English languages for recruitment to the An Garda, Síochán, the Irish police force,

252 ‘Nous ne produisons pas des dessins animés’, in: Agenda interculturel, 243, Mai 2006, pp. 20-2, French ver- sion available at: http://www.fgtb.be/PDF/fr/documents/2006/Discrimination/Discrimination.pdf (0.0.2006), Dutch version available at: http://www.abvv.be/PDF/nl/documents/2006/Discriminatie/Discriminatie.pdf (0.0.2006).

253 Homeless Agency (2005) Away from home and homeless: Quantification and profile of EU10 Nationals using homeless services and recommendations to address their needs, available at: http://www.homelessagency.ie/down- loads/publications/101.pdf (05.05.2006).

254 Interview with SIPTU National Organiser (5.09.2006).

255 Non-Estonians’ Integration Foundation (2006) Information of 29.09.2006, available at: http://www.meis.ee (0.0.2006).

256 Additionally, by the amendments in the Law on Citizenship of 5 June 2006 (Estonia, RT I 2006, 29, 224) the naturalisation procedures for former Soviet citizens residing in Estonia were further shortened by six months.

i n t h e m e m b e R s t a t e s o f t h e e U

was recognised as a barrier to the recruitment of ethnic minorities. In 2005 the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform announced that this requirement would be replaced by a requirement to hold a qualification in two languages, at least one of which must be Irish or English. This change followed consultations

with a number of Government departments, Gárda representative associations,

representatives of ethnic minority groups and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI). It was accompanied by an awareness campaign to ensure that minority ethnic groups were aware of the proposed change. Post-recruitment training in Irish is still to be provided to all those who did not have a prior qualification in Irish, and members of the public will continue to have

right to deal with the Gárda, if they so wish, in Irish. Consultations about related

issues such as dress code, religion and integration within the Gárda are ongoing.

3.10.10. Religion

In Austria procedures257 _{regarding members of religious minorities}

who are involved in any kind of military training were adapted to cover religious requirements like food, rooms and times for prayer, the attendance of religious events, and day-release for religious holidays. Exemptions are allowed for the

wearing of religious headgear, beards and scalp hair.258

In Germany the banking company Commerzbank in Frankfurt/Main, following a suggestion from a Muslim employee, set up a ‘silence room’ which

can be used, amongst other things, as a place of prayer for Muslim employees.259

Another banking company, the Deutsche Bank, is establishing ‘All-Faith Rooms’ as private worship and meditation rooms for employees of all religious beliefs, as one

element within its diversity policy.260

Whilst in Sweden there were no significant new measures in 2006 that

specifically address discrimination on the grounds of religion at the workplace, the Ombudsman against ethnic discrimination successfully dealt with one complaint over the desire to wear the headscarf at work. The Swedish police force has also

included in their plan for diversity (Mångfaldsplan) the right for a police officer to

wear a turban, headscarf or Jewish kippah on duty.261

257 These were first issued by the Federal Ministry of Defence in 2004: Austria/Bundesministerium für Landes- verteidigung, 65. Dienstbetrieb; Behandlung religiöser Minderheiten – Einberufung und Verwendung; zusam- menfassende Richtlinien – Neufassung, GZ S9309/7-FGG/2004, VBl I 65/2004 (6.06.2004).

25 Austria/Bundeskanzleramt (2006a) Rückmeldung zum Informationsersuchen Focal Point 2006, Vienna, unpub- lished manuscript, p. 4. No further details were disclosed to the Focal Point.

259 The notion of explicitly expanding the diversity concept to ethnic and religious diversity is rather new at the Commerzbank Frankfurt and will be promoted further in the future. (Telephone interview with the leader of the Commerzbank Diversity Unit, Barbara David, on 3.07.2006); K. Dillmann (2006) ‘Ford lebt Diversity voll aus’, in: AiD, Integration in Deutschland, 22, 2/06, p. 6.

260 Information (on request) given by Global Diversity Department, Deutsche Bank, on 20.0.2006. See http:// www.db.com/careers/de/files/DB_Diversity_Broschure_ENG.pdf (26.05.2006).

In the UK in November 2005, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) published an updated booklet advising employees and employers about the implementation of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief)

Regulations 2003, which came into force on 02.12.2003.262 _{The booklet presents}

examples demonstrating employee rights, and the ways in which employers should accommodate religious needs. It also argues that monitoring the ethnic and religious background of staff by employers is desirable, even though this is not required of the private sector, and advises employers to use exit interviews to identify possible problems of religious discrimination faced by their staff.