NLO is a member of a Thematic Network DisQo, which brings together people and organisations with the shared ambition to address structural racism and discrimination for health equity. We are proud to endorse the ‘DisQo- anti-discrimination & health equity’ Joint Statement, which advocates for improving public health through the proactive elimination of institutional, structural, and interpersonal racism and discrimination that impact physical and mental health inequalities. The Joint Statement outlines five key priorities for addressing the issue in a constructive, collaborative, and respectful manner. NLO together with the undersigned organisations calls for decision-makers at all levels including the European Commission, to take an active stance against all forms of racism and discrimination.

We at NLO are committed to the following actionable steps to ensure equity, anti-racism, and anti-discrimination:

 

  1. Recognise racism and discrimination as the fundamental determinants of health, equity, and well-being. We will continue to: enhance policies and practices aimed at preventing them in our organisation; acknowledge this issue in our work and advocacy efforts where feasible; form partnerships and work collaboratively with organisations from various sectors to establish groups of professionals that can learn from each other’s experiences.
  2. Strengthen social participation of racialised and discriminated communities, and foster diversity, representation, and anti-discrimination. Through our work, we will continue to actively advocate for the greater involvement of the marginalised communities in creating, implementing, and assessing legislative initiatives; offer personal experiences, feedback, and practical solutions.
  3. Increase the clarity and consistency of critical definitions related to racism, discrimination, and health equity. We will foster safe spaces to engage in respectful and inclusive dialogue and provide leadership and active engagement in EU actions to harmonise definitions.
  4. Collect more (health) equality data, disaggregated by indicators on multiple grounds of discrimination, and harmonise EU data collection. We will advocate for high-quality equality data by urging for proper resource allocation at both the EU and national levels; focus on leading and participating in initiatives that work towards standardising the collection of equality data throughout the EU.
  5. Strengthen existing EU anti-discrimination legislation by breaking down silos and boosting policy mainstreaming, transparency, reparative justice, and social participation. We will enhance cooperation with groups beyond typical network affiliations and take a proactive role in participatory initiatives aimed at incorporating EU policies more widely.

 

We are fully committed to our goal of ensuring accessible healthcare for marginalised people in Europe. By aligning with this Joint Statement and urging the European Commission to follow suit, we aim to promote a fairer, more just, inclusive, and overall, a healthier society.

The Joint Statement is available here.