Women's equality must be part of human rights agenda

2.14.40pm GMT Tue 12th Dec 2006

Ahead of a debate and vote this week by the European Parliament on the proposed establishment of a European Gender Equality Institute, London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford has called for this separate institute to be rejected in favour of integration into the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.

Baroness Ludford, who is a member of the Parliament's civil liberties committee and a women's rights campaigner, said:

"It is absurd to set up a new body which divorces gender equality and anti-discrimination from other human rights issues. There is a strong risk either that the common concerns of the Fundamental Rights Agency and the Gender Equality Institute will be lost through separation, or that duplication will trip up both of them."

"The EU should follow the same logic as that which has led to one comprehensive Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK. While care has to be take to ensure women-specific issues get enough attention, approaching gender concerns from a human rights perspective is the right way to get progress."

"The EU must avoid creating a proliferation of different agencies if the development of important new initiatives is not to be overshadowed by 'quango fatigue'."