Brussels, 09 May 2010 – “Europe – My favorite mix. People. Places. Cultures.” This year’s slogan for Europe Day – a day for celebrating the Union and its 495 million citizens, 27 Member States and 23 languages – illustrates how important diversity is to the success of the EU. On 9th of May, the Europeans across EU will jointly celebrate the unification of the many diverse nations and people.
The winning slogan for the Europe Day 2010 Poster Competition echoes the messages of the EU campaign “For Diversity. Against Discrimination.” which celebrates diversity, raises awareness about discrimination and promotes the benefits of diversity in the EU. The purpose of the campaign is also to make citizens aware of their rights based on two EU anti – discrimination Directives: Employment Equality Directive and the Racial Equality Directive and to fight against stereotypes. These European laws guarantee the same opportunities to all citizens to access in particular employment, regardless of their racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
EU legislation prohibits discrimination in regard to these five grounds. In recognizing the importance of promoting diversity the European Union is developing specific strategies to combat discrimination. Recent initiatives include the improvement of labour market access for the Roma population; the advancement of education for disabled people, the promotion of equal pension treatment, and the plea for inclusive growth in the 2020 Strategy.
Discrimination still widely spread
Every year millions of people in the EU are discriminated against. According to the last Eurobarometer on the perception of discrimination (http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb_special_en.htm) survey ethnic origin (61%) is the most prevalent reason for discrimination in the European Union, followed by age (58%) and disability (53%). 16% of the interviewed people stated that they have been personally discriminated against during the last year. However, only half of the EU citizens seem to know their rights in case of discrimination. To promote equality and to combat discrimination in the areas covered by the EU Equal Treatment Directives, equality bodies were established in EU countries.
The campaign “For Diversity. Against Discrimination.”
Since 2003 the European Commission (Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities) is running a pan-European information campaign on combating discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. The campaign « For Diversity. Against Discrimination. » is designed to inform people about their rights under EU anti-discrimination legislation, to promote the positive benefits of diversity in the workplace as well as to indicate contact organisations to victims of discrimination. Many of the activities carried out under the campaign are organised nationally and locally in each EU Member State with support from a European level. They comprise, amongst others, partnerships with national events, media relations, production and distribution of campaign material in 23 languages and the organisation of a Journalist Award.
Visit the campaign website: www.stop-discrimination.info
Submit your article on discrimination and win up to 5000 euros: http://journalistaward.stop-discrimination.info/
