The
Act also imposes the requirement that all public bodies have "regard"
to the "desirability" of promoting good relations between persons
of different religions, political views and racial groups. This duty extends
beyond the religious/political dimension of "community relations";
consideration must also be given to the needs and interests of minority
ethnic groups, including Irish Travellers. Moreover, all legislation and
policies produced by the Executive and the Assembly will have to meet the
obligation of promoting equality of opportunity and good relations. The
government has stated that there should be no conflict between the "equality
duty" and the "good relations duty" rather the two objectives
should be seen as complementary.
The
aim of the statutory duty is to emphasise the promotion of equality across
every aspect of civic, cultural, economic, political and public life.
This approach is known as mainstreaming which puts equality at the heart
of public policy decision making and service delivery. In its Corporate
Plan 2000-2003, the Equality Commission sets out its priorities for the
next three years.
Section
75 promotes equality of opportunity between persons of different racial
groups
The
Equality Commission is also responsible for the Fair Employment and Treatment
(NI) Order 1998 that has been extended to cover the provision of goods,
facilities and services and the management and disposal of premises. According
to Christopher McCrudden, Professor of Human Rights Law at the University
of Oxford, the Equality Commission, to be effective, will need to build
a co-operative relationship with the Assembly as it will be scrutinising
schemes which public bodies, including those overseen by the Executive and
Assembly, produce. McCrudden believes the "relationship between the
Assembly and the Equality Commission has considerable potential for problems.
Two possibilities suggest themselves. A confrontational attitude could develop
in which the Assembly sees the Commission as hostile and a threat, and engages
in a war of attrition against it. Alternatively, the Assembly could regard
the Commission as rather useful to it, forewarning it of problems that have
not yet turned ugly, and enabling it to tackle them in a sensible way out
of the glare of hostile publicity or international pressure."
The
Commission is required to produce an annual report outlining the effectiveness
of the equality duty and evidence of how the Commission and public authorities
promoted equality of opportunity. It is also obliged to liaise with the
Equality Authority (An tÚdarás Comhionannais) in the Republic
of Ireland. These bodies held their first joint meeting on 19 September
2000 and agreed that they would co-operate on three themes:
