Commission For Equality And Human Rights (CEHR) Officially Launched

After months in the making, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) was officially launched 1st October, and renamed the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Taking over from the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), the EHRC is a statutory body established under the Equality Act 2006.

It is “the independent advocate for equality and human rights”, according to its website, and aims to:

* reduce inequality;
* eliminate discrimination;
* strengthen good relations between people; and
* promote and protect human rights.

The Commission will enforce equality legislation on:

* age;
* disability;
* gender;
* race;
* religion or belief;
* sexual orientation or transgender status; and
* encourage compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998.

It will also give advice and guidance to business, the voluntary and public sectors, and to individuals.

Speaking on the opening on the new Commission its Chair, Trevor Philips, says:
"We live in an age of difference where most of us believe that people must be judged on their abilities, not their age, what they look like, their disability, or their families and private lives. We have made immense progress over the past 30 years in giving women and minority groups the right to redress against discrimination. We will continue to support meritorious and significant individual cases. But we can do even better by working to change underlying attitudes and biased behaviour. Our task is to make the diversity of our society a source of energy and prosperity, not a cause for friction and inequality.”

The first act of the ECHR was to release the results of a survey, revealing that 74% of people believe work is the most common setting where discrimination is experienced today.

Source: Workplace Law

Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) Website

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