Statute governing the Independent Authority for Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination approved [editar]

At Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG), we welcome the approval of the Statute governing the operation of the Independent Authority for Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination (AINODI in spanish). It is a fundamental instrument and an essential requirement for anti-discrimination legislation to be effective in addressing the rights violations that we most frequently encounter through our work supporting victims of discrimination and antigypsyism

The Statute was approved on 21 July and published on Saturday in the Official State Gazette. It will enable this body, whose president was appointed more than a year ago, to exercise all the powers and functions assigned to it by the Comprehensive Law on Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination and by the applicable European Directives concerning equality bodies.

Four years ago, after more than twelve years of waiting, we welcomed the adoption of the Comprehensive Law on Equal Treatment, for which we had advocated so strongly and to whose drafting we contributed. However, as we have repeatedly highlighted in our Annual Reports on Discrimination and the Roma Community, this Law is not being implemented in practice. As a result, in a high proportion of cases, victims of discrimination still do not obtain the redress to which they are entitled under current legislation.

We are referring to practices such as refusing to rent a home once the property owner becomes aware of the applicants’ ethnic origin; following Roma women around shops, supermarkets and shopping centres; obstructing recruitment processes for discriminatory reasons; or denying Roma individuals or families access to restaurants, accommodation or leisure venues. These situations are deeply unjust and, unfortunately, all too common.

Although all these practices are expressly prohibited and subject to penalties under the Comprehensive Law on Equal Treatment, we continue to face an insurmountable barrier when seeking to ensure that the relevant public authorities activate the mechanisms for sanctioning such conduct and providing redress to victims.

A fundamental role for victims

From now on, Ainodi will play a fundamental role in ensuring that these victims receive the response they deserve. In addition to having its own specialised victim support service, in cooperation with organisations such as FSG, it will be able to conduct mediation and conciliation based on a restorative justice approach that we share; investigate the facts; and call on the competent authorities to adopt the appropriate measures. The Authority will also be able to bring legal proceedings, in a similar way to FSG’s strategic litigation work, through which we have taken more than 30 discrimination cases to court across all jurisdictions.

AINODI will also play a very important role in preventing and promoting the eradication of structural forms of discrimination which, as in the case of antigypsyism, persist in our society. In this area, particularly significant functions include the preparation of studies and statistics; the monitoring of hate speech, work that FSG has also been carrying out in cooperation with the European Commission for more than ten years; and the supervision of potentially discriminatory bias in artificial intelligence algorithms. Through this analytical work and the recommendations it issues, we hope that Ainodi will contribute to combating structural discrimination.

The approval of this Statute, to whose drafting we contributed during the public consultation phase through proposals that were ultimately incorporated into its provisions, represents a very significant step forward in the effective implementation of anti-discrimination legislation. We hope that its budget allocation will be sufficient and proportionate to the major social challenge facing this body. It would also be desirable for this progress to be accompanied by a review of the Comprehensive Law on Equal Treatment, introducing an effective sanctions regime and granting Ainodi sanctioning powers, clarifying which forms of conduct constitute an infringement, and incorporating the principle of proportionality into the determination of corrective measures.