Much of CAJ's work in the area of equality is concerned with the outworkings of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. This requires designated public authorities to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status, or sexual orientation; between men and women generally; between persons with a disability and persons without; and between persons with dependants and persons without.

Without prejudice to its obligations under the above, a public authority shall in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, or racial group.

Designated public authorities are required to produce Equality Schemes, outlining how they propose fulfilling their duties under Section 75. Each equality scheme is required to conform to Guidelines, issued by the Equality Commission. The Scheme should outline the relevant public authorities arrangements for carrying out Equality Impact Assessments, including mechanisms for consultation with interested parties. The Equality Coalition has produced a Guide on the implementation of Section 75 called Screening and Impact Assessment.

As a 'Section 75' consultee, much of CAJ's work in the area of equality is spent on responding to documents issued by designated public authorities (see list of responses). Over more recent years, much of this work has been carried out in conjunction with our colleagues in the Equality Coalition. CAJ, along with the trade union UNISON, co-convenes the Equality Coalition, which is a broad alliance of non-governmental organisations working to ensure that the equality duty is put into practice, and to increase the public profile of the equality agenda in Northern Ireland. The Coalition consists of members of all the categories covered by Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act. The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), Disability Action, Women's Support Network, the Upper Springfield Development Trust and the Linc Resource Centre are among the founder members of the Equality Coalition. The Coalition meets on a monthly basis, discussing ways in which members can most effectively engage in the range of consultations emanating from the public sector. It is hoped that in the next number of months, the Coalition will have its own website up and running, meanwhile we are currently being hosted on the NICVA website.

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