On the occasion of the Dutch EU Presidency 2004, the COC Netherlands and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports are proud to announce the European pre-conference on:
“Sexual Orientation Policy?”
Mainstreaming Non-discrimination
in an Enlarged European Union
19-20 November, 2004, The Hague, Netherlands
More than a decade after the Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 13 EU Treaty) and in the aftermath of the process of consultation by the European Commission on its Green Paper on ‘Equality and non-discrimination in an enlarged Europe Union’, the non-discrimination policy in the European Union and in the EU-member states and accession countries, will be subject of a special European conference in The Netherlands, on the occasion of the Dutch EU Presidency 2004.
Next to the original focus on gender, wider issues of diversity and combating discrimination have come into focus. One of these issues is discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. In the past few years, several European projects were carried out and initiatives were taken to develop good practices and supporting networks concerning one of the non-discrimination grounds in Article 13 of the EU Treaty: sexual orientation.
Now is the time to discuss how such experiences and networks can become a structural element in European diversity and non-discrimination policies of stakeholders.
The Kick-off of a European Network of Government Officials specialised on the implementation of equal treatment of gays, lesbians and bisexuals, is part of this pre-conference.
The goal of the pre-conference is to make a start with the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that the perspective of equality in Europe – based on sexual orientation – is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the stakeholders normally involved in policy-making (“mainstreaming
