Nondiscrimination Coalition reproaches Government for antidiscrimination law

The Nondiscrimination Coalition expressed its deep disappointment and concern about the Government’s steps regarding the bill that protects the persons from discrimination acts, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a statement, the Coalition says that the non-transparent method of taking decisions in this respect arouses concern. On May 10, without preliminarily consulting civil society, the Ministry of Justice made public a refined antidiscrimination bill. Though it hadn’t been included in the agenda of the May 23 meeting of the Government, the bill was approved in a hurry and is to be submitted to Parliament for adoption. The only changes made based on the recommendations were the change of the name of the bill from the Law on Equal Opportunities into the Law on Ensuring of Equality and the fact that two members of the Antidiscrimination Council will represent civil society. The main amendments proposed by civil society weren’t accepted. The executive did not re-include the phrases ‘state of health’, ‘sexual orientation’, ‘property’ and ‘social origin’ in Article 1 of the law. They were removed without a legal justification, said the Nondiscrimination Coalition. “We consider that without these changes, the application area of the law will be very limited and many discriminated social categories will remain unprotected. Thus, the law risks not achieving its goals and remaining only a useless and incomplete law,” reads the statement. The Nondiscrimination Coalition requests Parliament to return to discussions and consultations with civil society on the given bill, before its adoption.