The Conference on Anti-Discrimination and Equality on the Way to EU was organised by TACSO-Turkey in cooperation with Kaos GL Association and Human Rights Joint Platform. The conference is organised within the framework of the People to People (P2P) component of the TACSO project, which aims to support civil society in the EU enlargement region. P2P is one of the three strands of the Civil Society Facility and provides an opportunity for CSOs in the countries of Western Balkans and Turkey to expand their knowledge about the activities of EU counterparts, through meetings with European CSOs and the opportunity to network internationally and regionally.

Representatives from 94 national and foreign civil society organizations as well as a representative of the relevant government agency participated to the conference held in Ankara from 12 to 13 March 2015. The issues of international standards and EU policies for anti-discrimination and equality framework, challenges and opportunities for CSOs working in this area, and policies and mechanisms for anti-discrimination and equality in Turkey from CSOs' perspective were touched upon during the panel sessions held in the conference. On the last day of the conference, there was also a Regional Network Workshop against Homophobia and Transphobia" held.

On the first day of the conference, the panel on "International Standards and EU Policies for Anti-Discrimination and Equality Framework" was moderated by Burcu Yeşiladalı from the Human Rights Law Research Center. The objective of the panel was to take a closer look at standards and policies developed at international and regional levels by anti-discrimination and equality mechanisms and share experiences related to the working of these mechanisms. Speakers in the panel discussion were Gün Kut from European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Isabelle Chopin from the European Network of Legal Experts for Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination and Severine Jacomy Vite from the UN Human Rights Thematic Group. 

Please click for the event report prepared by TACSO.