From 7 to 9 December 2021, the Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity, and Inclusion (CDADI) held its fourth meeting in person and via videoconference in Strasbourg.
The CDADI examined and endorsed the draft text of the Recommendation on multilevel policies and governance for intercultural integration and decided to submit it to the Committee of Ministers (CM) for adoption. Furthermore, the committee examined the draft text of the Recommendation on combating hate speech together with its explanatory memorandum and held a joint session on those drafts with the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI). At the end of this session, the CDADI endorsed a text of both documents and decided to submit them to the Committee of Ministers, once the CDMSI has also taken a decision on them, but at the latest at the end of this year.
During the three-day meeting, the CDADI was also updated on the work of the Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (ADI-ROM), decided to transmit to the CM the First Implementation Report on the Strategic Action Plan for Roma and Traveller Inclusion (2020-2025) and endorsed the Study on the causes, prevalence, and consequences of antigypsyism, and possible responses. The Committee furthermore exchanged on the outcomes of the 8th International Roma Women’s Conference (IRWC) with the Ad hoc Rapporteur of that conference and further NGOs representing Roma and Traveller women, and provided guidance on drafting a CM Recommendation on equality for Roma and Traveller women and girls.
Marie Hagsgård, President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and Vesna Crnić-Grotić, Chair of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, presented the reforms of the monitoring under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and highlighted their positive impacts such as the continuous dialogue of both monitoring bodies with the different stakeholders involved in the monitoring procedures. In the subsequent discussion, the CDADI members underlined the decisive role of states parties in supporting the efficient work of both monitoring mechanisms and in implementing their recommendations to improve minority protection in Europe.
Josie Youd, Bureau member of the CDADI and Co-Chair of the European Governmental LGBTI Focal Points Network (EFPN), and Stephanie Marsal, consultant, presented the progress made with the drafting of the first thematic review report on the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 and with the development of the methodology for the drafting of this and further thematic review reports.
The CDADI furthermore elected the Chair Triantafillos Loukarelis, the Vice-Chair Olena Bogdan and the Bureau members Cristina Milagre (Portugal), Jürgen Merz (Germany) and Josie Youd (United Kingdom); it furthermore appointed Patrícia São João (Portugal) as Gender Equality Rapporteur.
The CDADI also examined the terms of reference that it and its substructures were given for 2022-2025. It appointed five representatives to the Committee of Experts on Hate Crime (PC/ADI-CH), set up a working group to prepare a draft Recommendation on active political participation of national minority youth and possibly other deliverables, and agreed on the reimbursement of members of the ADI-ROM and the CDADI working group with the European Network of SOGIESC Governmental Focal Points (EFPN).