It was introduced with the co-operation of Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity Dolores Cristina, and managing director of Media Consulta (Malta) Andrew Warrington. Laura Mifsud Bonnici, communications co-ordinator in the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity, Theresa Sullivan from Media Consulta and Salvu Sammut from the General Workers Union were also present at the press conference held at the Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity.

In 2000, European legislation made it illegal for discrimination in employment and training on the grounds of age, religion or belief, disability, race or sexual orientation.

Although gender discrimination does exist in the workplace in Malta, Ms Cristina and Mr Warrington both pointed out that they didn’t want the issue to subdue the other issues at stake.

This legislation is backed by a e100 million community programme and, in order to inform the general public about their new rights, the European Commission are running a five-year information initiative in all EU member States.

The initiative comprises both pan-European and national measures. National measures have to be set up by national working groups to ensure that the content addresses the country’s specific needs and that the people representing the interests of target groups are actively involved in the development of the initiative.

Key stakeholders are involved in the fight against discrimination, including NGOs, trade unions, employers’ associations and Ministries. Mrs Cristina said it was important that Maltese employees are not only legally protected against discrimination but that they are informed of their rights and obligations in this regard. She compared diversity in the workplace to a song with different musical notes: the more varied the notes are, the more interesting the song becomes.

Mr Warrington pointed out that the main emphasis of the campaign was to make the general public aware of the different types of discrimination and how it can be tackled. In fact the slogan used throughout the 25 member States “For Diversity, Against Discrimination”, emphasises the positive aspect of having diversity in the workplace.

He added that the general attitude in Malta is to discriminate positively against people coming from northern Europe, and negatively against those coming from countries south of Europe. There seems to be discrimination against Arabs, women and people with a different sexual orientation. However, Mr Warrington said the general feeling was that discrimination at the workplace because of one’s political beliefs was the worst one.

Mr Sammut stressed the importance of teamwork between all the different organisations involved. He added that the GWU will not only co-operate in this campaign but provide full support in order to ensure that everybody is aware of what is going on.

Media Consulta is the agency responsible for the implementation of the campaign, drawing on a network of correspondents with expertise in the fields of social welfare and employment in every EU member State. It has offices in the 25 EU member States and is currently running an information campaign, which was launched in June 2003 and will run until 2007, in all of them.

It is extremely difficult to change peoples’ attitudes and, as part of the national campaign to promote social diversity in the work place, Media Consulta has organised the Journalist Award 2004. Journalists are asked to sensitise discrimination problems in employment and the benefits gained through recently implemented EU policies and directives throughout all member States by publishing an article of at least 5,000 characters, in the local media until 30 September.

The award aims to give recognition to journalists who contribute to a better understanding of the benefits of diversity and the fight against discrimination in the workplace. There are no entry fees and the deadline for entries is 5 October 2004. Each participating country will choose the best story, and the final 25 stories will be evaluated by an independent European jury. The first prize is a trip worth e3, 000 to any country chosen by the winner.

Further information on new EU legislation, as well as contact details for support and advice in each member State may be found on the website www.stop-discrimination. info. Potential victims of discrimination are also provided with information on how to tackle the situation.