European Commission adopted Recommendation on equality bodies’ standards in order to ensure independence and improve efficiency of national equality bodies. With this Recommendation, the standards related to authority of equality institutions are defined, including resources and adequate powers.

National equality bodies are the central element of institutional system for the protection of equality. Those are public institutions, established throughout Europe in accordance with EU legislative, for the promotion of equality and combat against discrimination, serving as the first place for discrimination victims to address to.

“There is no place for discrimination in European Union and that is why we need to ensure independence for the national equality bodies, because they are guardians of justice and equal possibilities for all citizens”, said  European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Vera Jurova. According to her, the equality and non-discrimination principle are the key values of European Union and are of vital importance for development of every society.

Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic welcomed the adoption of this Recommendation and estimated that it presents strong foundation for even more efficient work of the institution, and also the important step towards overall protection against discrimination of all citizens in Serbia and the improvement of equality in our society.

Adoption of European Commission Recommendations is the recognition of the importance of equality bodies’ activities and a guarantee that they can continue working on the improvement of equality of European societies.