The Equal Rights Trust (ERT), an independent international organisation whose purpose is to combat discrimination and promote equality as a fundamental human right and a basic principle of social justice, welcomes the Durban Review Conference (DRC) as an important opportunity to examine the progress made towards fulfilling the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Declaration and Programme of Action and to develop the commitments set out in this document.

Today, on the inaugural World Day of Social Justice, The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) wrote to Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, welcoming the event as an important step to raise awareness on social inequality, poverty and the widening gap between the most and the least advantaged globally. In the letter ERT appealed to the Secretary-General to promote the Declaration of Principles on Equality and to recommend it to relevant UN organisations and agencies. 

London, 23 January 2009

Today, The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) wrote to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand expressing deep concern over the fate of 126 Rohingya who had been held incommunicado since 16 January 2009 and subsequently forcefully expelled by being put on a boat and cast adrift in international waters. The victims of these abuses are stateless persons, members of a minority deprived of their Myanmar citizenship through discriminatory legislation in Myanmar, and do not have the protection of any state. Stateless persons are among the most vulnerable victims of discrimination and other human rights violations globally.

London 19 December 2008

On 18 December 2008, in New York, the UN General Assembly was presented with a statement endorsed by 66 states from around the world calling for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The statement, read out by the UN Representative for Argentina Jorge Arguello, condemns violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatisation, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds.

The launch of the Declaration of Principles on Equality, on 21 October 2008 in London, marked the beginning of a "Vote for Equality" campaign for its universal recognition. The Declaration should become the basis for a new covenant on equality in the 21st Century.

Today, The Equal Rights Trust calls for endorsements from individuals and organisations who want to add their voice in support of the Principles. You can easily see and endorse the Principles online – click here.

More than 120 of the world’s leading human rights and equality experts are today calling for the most radical re-think of equal rights in two generations as global economic turmoil holds nations in its grip.

Signatories from 44 nations are urging governments and individuals to back a new declaration – 60 years after the epoch-making Universal Declaration on Human Rights followed in the wake of World War II.

The new declaration, launched today in London by The Equal Rights Trust, would transform treatment of discriminated groups across the world and is the first ever international initiative to set out general legal principles that define equality as a basic human right.

Today the European Commission published a Proposal for a Council Directive to implement the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation. The proposed Council Directive will build upon Council Directive 2000/78/EC (The Employment Equality Directive) and will extend the protection from discrimination for millions of people across the European Union in areas including social security, healthcare, education and access to and supply of goods and services. 

London, 30 May 2008

On the 30th of May 2008 The Equal Rights Trust wrote to Miloslav Vlèek, Chairperson of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament calling on him and other deputies of the Czech Parliament to adopt the Law on Equal Treatment and Legal Measures of Protection from Discrimination and Amendments to Some Laws (the anti-discrimination bill), which is scheduled to be put to the vote during the 3 June 2008 session of the Chamber.

London, 23 May 2008 

On Wednesday 21 May 2008, United States' President George W. Bush signed into law the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA), which seeks to prevent medical advances in DNA testing being adversely used by employers and health insurance companies against people with a genetic predisposition to health issues.

The Act provides groundbreaking protection for civil rights and has been described by US Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the leading advocates of the Bill, as ‘the first major new civil rights bill of the new century.’ The signing represents the culmination of cross-party Congressional efforts for over a decade to address the issue of genetic discrimination.

Today, The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) wrote to Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, regarding the Commission’s plan to draft a non-discrimination directive on the basis of Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty.

In October 2007 the European Commission, empowered under Article 13 to take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, sent to the European Parliament its Legislative and Work Programme for 2008. The Commission indicated that it was necessary to implement a new European Directive to ensure the same level of protection for all grounds and promote harmonization throughout Europe in this field.