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Public Sector Duties

Discrimination can be dealt with in various ways. One way focuses on making a stand against individual discrimination after it occurs. A second way tries to counteract discrimination by developing affirmative action policies specifically tailored to the discriminated groups. In order to systematically balance out discrimination in a third way, institutions are legally obliged to guarantee equality by integrating it into their policies. To this end, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland have so-called public sector equality duties. They are an advancement of positive action and legally oblige public authorities to apply equality principles in the execution of their tasks. This means that equality has to be respected adequately in all of their actions, such as in the provision of services, in decision-making or in taking measures.

This dossier provides you with an introductionto public sector equality duties. It will present the legal basis of the duties and their execution in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

Subsequently, we will delineate how public sector equality duties are implemented in South Africa.

You can find a printer-friendly version of this dossier here.

You can find more information on this topic here.