Upcoming conference on equality data

Welcome to a full-day conference for representatives from equality bodies, civil society organisations, the academia and policy makers in EU Member States exploring the significance of equality data on combating discrimination in society.

The conference will focus on the significance of equality data on combating discrimination in society and what contribution equality data can make to the individual obtaining redress. The conference will foster dialogue and discussion about what equality data are, how they can be used as part of the work to combat discrimination and promote equal rights and opportunities for all.

The conference will shine light on the challenges present in the work to gather, compile and use equality data to combat discrimination. The conference has a reflective approach in which the Swedish Equality Ombudsman’s role is that of facilitator, where we highlight various perspectives, opinions, and methods regarding equality data.

During the conference, the Swedish Equality Ombudsman will present the results from our first, of what will become, annual reports on the state of discrimination in Sweden.

When and where

All the times are presented in Central European Time (CET).

Date

Friday the 12th of May 2023

Time

9.30 am – 5.00 pm

Location

Venue: Clarion Stockholm Sweden

Ringvägen 98, 118 60 Stockholm

How to get there: Metro "Skanstull" (50 meters outside the hotel)

The conference will also be livestreamed. Please note that the livestream will provide real-time captioning but not sign language interpretation.

Language

English and sign language interpretation.

Bio speakers and performers

Daniel Boyacioglu, is the poet and artist who is considered to have laid the foundation for the spoken word that in recent years has set the tone in young Swedish poetry. This year he is publishing his seventh collection of poems at the same time as his debut book "Instead of hiphop" celebrates 20 years. In addition, he has written teaching materials, dozens of stage performances, an opera at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, made six music albums and appears regularly in various musical collaborations across different genres, most recently as front man in the pop band Daniel4ever.

Edda Manga, is a historian of ideas and Head of Research at the Multicultural Centre in Stockholm. Her research interests revolve around the relation between coloniality, racism and global power structures. Manga was Principal Investigator for the multidisciplinary research project “Methodological laboratories - Towards Tenable Methods to Measure Discrimination on the Grounds of Race, Ethnicity and Religion” funded by the Swedish Research Council 2017-2021.

This project dwelled with the complex historical relation between state racism and statistics and with methodological problems in measuring racism to combat racism. It resulted in a mix-method model for measuring and monitoring effects of racism for different groups of the Swedish population, the Balingsholm model, which is described in the book "Att mäta rasism" (2022).

Hanna Gerdes, is a Swedish human rights lawyer, lecturer, author and the founder of Hanna and Goliath Law & Education.

Hanna has previously worked as head of education at the Swedish Foundation for Human Rights, as equal treatment manager at the Swedish Armed Forces, as legal advisor at the Swedish Disability Ombudsman and the Bureau against Discrimination and as a political advisor to the minister of EU affairs and democracy.

Helena Dalli, is the first EU Commissioner for Equality. Her role is to deliver on a Union of Equality, by strengthening Europe’s commitment to equality and inclusion. Helena Dalli has held various political roles in Malta including Member of Parliament, Minister for European Affairs and Equality, and Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties. She holds a PhD in Political Sociology.

Iris Elliott, PhD FRSA is Head of Policy and Research at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), Ireland’s National Equality Body and Grade A status National Human Rights Institution. She leads IHREC’s work on Data, Research, Legislation, Public Policy, International Reporting and International Engagement.

Iris has been a member of the EU Equality Data SubGroup since joining IHREC in 2018 and hosted a country visit to Ireland by the SubGroup in 2022.

She holds a PhD in Sociology (women’s human rights activism), MA in Public Culture Studies (creating human rights cultures through peace agreements), MSc in Health Promotion (youth participation) and social work qualifications. Iris was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts for her ‘outstanding contribution and commitment to public mental health in the UK and Ireland’. Her professional practice is focussed on realising equality and human rights in everyday life.

Love Ander, is working as an analyst at the Swedish Equality Ombudsman. He has been the project manager for the Swedish Equality Ombudsman’s first annual report on the state of discrimination in Sweden , and he has experience from collecting data and conducting different studies concerning discrimination.

Lars Arrhenius, took up office as the Swedish Equality Ombudsman in December 2020. Prior to this he was Secretary General for the international aid organisation Läkarmissionen. Between 2006 and 2012, he was Sweden’s first Child and School Student Representative within an office at the Schools Inspectorate that protects the rights of children and school students, subsequently, he was the Secretary General for the anti-bullying organisation Friends. Later Lars headed up state inquiries into parental insurance and rules governing religious aspects in the education system in Sweden.

Lars graduated from the law school at Stockholm University in 1990 with a focus on human rights. He worked as a lawyer for 16 years, primarily working with criminal law, but also asylum and custody cases, while also being engaged with UNICEF and ECPAT.

Marie Cham, is chairwoman of the National Organization of Afro-Swedes, Expert in racism and equality work with long experience in anti-racist work with a focus on diversity, equality and inclusion. As an active member of the national organization of Afroswedes, she has also participated in the social debate on issues related to Afrophobia and inequality.

Mia Ahlgren, is a policy officer for international disability rights at the Swedish Disability Rights Federation, representing the national umbrella for organisations of persons with disabilities. The work includes coordinating reports to UN treaty bodies and responsibility for European policy related to disability rights policy.

She has been an active member in the network of the European Disability Forum since 2003. Mia coordinated the work of the Swedish civil society on a national report on the CRPD in 2019 and inputs regarding the Sustainable Development Goals. During the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union she coordinated the conference on Disability Rights, Accessibility and Artificial Intelligence with the European Disability Forum in Stockholm the 31st of March.

Micah Grzywnowicz (they/them), is a member of the Advisory Board of ILGA-Europe, an independent, international non-governmental umbrella organisation uniting over 600 organisations from 54 countries across Europe and Central Asia.

In parallel, they work as the Senior Adviser on Human Rights and Sustainable Development at the Danish Institute for Human Rights and lead the Institute’s work on the Indigenous Navigator – a tool to systematically monitor the level of recognition and implementation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Previously, Micah was a Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe, they worked as the International Advocacy Advisor at RFSL, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQI Rights and led the organisation’s UN advocacy work with a specific focus on the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights.

Micah was a member of the UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee, which is the main institutional mechanism for dialogue between civil society leaders and UNDP senior management. They also worked at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and assisted in preparing the report ’Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe’. Micah has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Central European University.

Michaela Moua, is the first EU Anti-Racism Coordinator. She held a number of senior roles in NGOs in her native Finland combatting racism and discrimination. Before joining the European Commission, she worked at the Non-discrimination Ombudsman’s office and at the Ministry of Justice in Finland working on developing equality data collection and developing the Finnish National Action Plan Against Racism.

She has extensive experience and expertise in combatting racism and racial discrimination and in promoting an equal and diverse society on the local and member state level. In addition, she is a solution-focused brief therapist with expertise in the effects of racism and discrimination on mental health.

Nathalie Schlenzka, is Head of the Department of Research and General Affairs at the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (FADA). She is working with FADA since 2011. The department of research and general affairs is among other tasks responsible for the improvement of equality and anti­discrimination data. In recent years Nathalie Schlenzka has worked on questions of discrimination in the field of the labour market, higher education and automated decision making as well as on institutional discrimination.

Previously, she worked for many years as a research associate in the field of migration and integration research at the Berlin Institute for Comparative Social Research / European Migration Center and the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. She obtained her Diploma in Political Science from the Free University Berlin and the University of Sussex.

Nicolás Marugán Zalba, is Deputy Director General for Equal treatment and Ethnic Diversity at the Spanish Ministry of Equality. He is among other tasks responsible for the coordination of the debate on the need for ethnic data on statistics, studies and surveys. He has previously been deputy Director General for Humanitarian Assistance and migration centres at the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Migration, and he has been an elected member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Rosemary Kayess, is an internationally recognised and well-respected human rights lawyer in the area of disability. She is Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Rosemary teaches international human rights law at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. Rosemary was a designated expert on the Australian Government delegation to the United Nations negotiations for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and facilitated the drafting of Article 24 on the Right to Education. In 2019, Rosemary was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal.

Rossalina Latcheva, is currently Head of the Anti-Racism and Non-Discrimination Sector in the Equality, Roma and Social Rights Unit of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Her areas of expertise with respect to FRA’s work include equality and non-discrimination, including the collection and use of equality data; racism, xenophobia and related intolerance; integration & inclusion; gender-based violence; and mixed methods research. She is experienced in developing, collecting and analysing primary and secondary survey data, as well as in applying and mixing diverse quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.

Prior to joining the FRA, she held a university post-doctoral position at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and was a lecturer at the University of Vienna, Austria. She holds a PhD in sociology and has published a number of articles, book chapters and reports on integration, national and European identity, ethnic exclusion and mixed methods research.

Sara Nazari, is an artist and poet from Stockholm. She has performed with her poetry/spoken word both on TV and stages around Sweden, including Musikhjälpen, Berwaldhallen, Dramaten and as one middle act in Melodifestivalen 2022. Sara had her breakthrough together with the spoken word collective Revolution Poetry when she was 14 years old. She is also a lawyer.

Tamás Kádár, is Co-Director (Head of Legal and Policy) at Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies. Tamás worked previously at the Hungarian Equal Treatment Authority as a legal officer, investigating discrimination cases on all grounds and drafting decisions of the Authority.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest as a Doctor in Law. Tamás also holds a Master of Economic Science degree from University College Dublin in Ireland.

Tamás has published articles on equality and non-discrimination, spoken at numerous international conferences and acted as a trainer and expert in various EU, Council of Europe, OSCE and USAID-funded projects.

Tena Šimonović Einwalter, chairs the Executive Board of the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet), a network bringing together 47 equality bodies, having also chaired the network in two prior mandates (2017-2019, 2019-2021).

She is also the representative of the Republic of Croatia in the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and is ECRI’s co-representative to the Council of Europe’s Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).

Ms Šimonović Einwalter was elected by the Croatian Parliament as the Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia in March 2021. She has been working in this institution for 15 years, as prior to being elected Ombudswoman she was Deputy Ombudswoman for 8 years and before that legal advisor and anti-discrimination coordinator in the institution.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Law, received her Master’s degree in European and Comparative Law from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree in International Relations from University of Zagreb. She passed the Croatian Bar Exam and is a recipient of the Diploma of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Thomas Helgeson, Head of Section at Statistics Sweden responsible for statistics related to Living conditions and Democracy but also an expert in topics such as income and living conditions, poverty statistics, quality of life and SDGs. Previous roles include product manager for the Swedish Living Conditions Survey (including the EU-regulated SILC survey) and Special adviser on Living Conditions at Statistics Sweden. Thomas participated in the Swedish work on developing and publishing SDG indicators, with a special focus on income and poverty related issues.

Thomas is the Swedish representative in Eurostat’s Working Group on Income and Living Conditions and a Task Force for Flash Estimates on Income and Poverty. Also participated in the Eurostat Task Force on the SILC Legal Basis during 2012-2015. Regularly contribute to Statistics Sweden’s cooperation projects including projects in Kenya, Mali, Kosovo, and Albania.

Information about Stockholm and transportation

Airport transfer

Stockholm Arlanda Airport

Train

The quickest way to get between Arlanda Airport (ARN) and central Stockholm is on the Arlanda Express airport train – the journey takes only 18 minutes. At the airport the train stops at both stations – Arlanda South and Arlanda North. Read more about the express train. External link.

Bus

You can also get between Arlanda Airport (ARN) and central Stockholm on the airport bus service Flygbussarna – the journey takes 45 minutes. Due to ongoing construction works at the airport, all bus traffic from Terminal 5 has been moved to Terminal 4 and Terminal 2/3. This applies to both arrivals and departures. Read more about airport buses External link.

Taxi

Taxis are available next to Terminal 5. The taxi rank is only served by taxis that have agreements with Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Only eco taxis are allowed to operate from Arlanda. Read more about taxis at Arlanda External link.

Bromma Stockholm Airport

Bus

You can take a bus between Bromma Airport (BRA) and central Stockholm with the airport bus service Flygbussarna – the journey takes 20 minutes. Book your tickets and view the timetable for Flygbussarna External link.

Taxi

Taxis can be found right next to the terminal at Bromma Airport. The taxi rank is only served by taxis that have agreements with Bromma Stockholm Airport. Read more about taxis at Bromma External link.

To Stockholm by train

Stockholm Central Station is the hub of rail traffic in Stockholm. So if you arrive by train or the Arlanda Express, this will be your final destination. The station is centrally situated and is linked to the metro station T-centralen.

Stockholm Central has no manned ticket office and train tickets can only be bought from ticket machines or online. Tickets for the metro and local SL buses can be bought at SL Centre, which is located on the floor below the main hall of the station. The easiest way to pay for the metro is using a payment card or Swish (via the SL app), one ticket costs SEK 39 and is valid for 75 minutes on the metro, commuter trains, trams and buses within Stockholm. Read all about tickets, prices and time tables at Stockholm lokaltrafik, SL External link.

Above Central Station you will also find the Cityterminalen bus terminal, which is the hub for regional and international bus traffic to Stockholm. Flygbussarna also has a stop here.

Getting to the conference

The conference will be held at Clarion Hotel Stockholm External link. - Ringvägen 98, Stockholm. The hotel is on Södermalm, a popular area known for its large number of restaurants, bars, shopping and galleries.

The quickest way to get to the conference from central Stockholm is on the green line of the metro heading south to the station Skanstull, which is the fourth stop after T-Centralen. The journey takes about six minutes and from there the hotel is only a few minutes walk.

What to see and do in Stockholm

In Stockholm everything is nearby. The shopping streets are at walking distance as are many historical sights such as the Royal Castle, Stockholm City Hall, the Old Town etc. On the website Visit Stockholm External link. you can read all about Stockholm’s places of interest, events, restaurants, excursions etc. If you want to get further away from central Stockholm, trains, buses, the metro and taxis are close at hand.