During the conference on the campaigns against discrimination held in Milan on 21 July, the European Commissioner for employment and social affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, expressed her concern about the fact that some member states have not yet absorbed into their national legislation the new EU rules on racial discrimination. The deadline fixed for their reception was 19 July 2003. The Directive on equality of treatment between persons irrespective of race and ethnic origin, adopted by the governments of the EU in 2000, prohibits discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin in a huge range of sectors: labour, education, training, social security, healthcare and access to and the provision of goods and services available to the public, including housing. In all EU countries, governments must designate an agency to provide practical and independent support to the victims of racial discrimination. The member states must also inform the Commission about the provisions adopted to integrate the provisions of the Directive in their national legislation. To increase public awareness of the rights and duties entailed by the new rules and promote the advantages of diversity in the broad sense, the Commission has recently launched a five-year awareness-raising campaign with the slogan “For diversity, against discrimination”. For further information: www.stop-discrimination.info
