Kadi Viik

This chapter is founded on Article 14 of Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which prohibits discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. As other chapters will focus on the situation of national minorities, LGBTI persons, refugees and asylum seekers and the protection of rights of children and persons with disabilities in Estonia, this chapter will centre on discrimination based on gender, race and religion.

Political and institutional developments

The creation of the Gender Equality Council by the government of the Republic of Estonia in October of 2013 is a notable development in the gender equality field. The establishment of the council had already been prescribed by the Gender Equality Act that came into force 1 May 2004, so nine years later it was created. The Gender Equality Council is a wide-based high-level advisory body, which, among other things, aims to advise the government on promotion of the gender equality strategy. The council consists of representatives of social partners, non-governmental organisations, state authorities and political parties represented in Riigikogu and is serviced by the Ministry of Social Affairs.[1] The council managed to convene only once in 2013.

Two programmes funded by Norway’s support and coordinated by the Ministry of Social Affairs for years 2009-2014 started in 2013 – one of them on gender equality and work-life balance, the other on family and gender violence. Two predefined projects are being funded via the gender equality programme. The first is organised by the Statistical Office and aims to improve the availability of statistics of the wage difference of men and women. The second predefined project is organised by the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner and her office, and aims to increase the sufficiency of legal protection of persons who have suffered as a result of discrimination, by increasing awareness of law, and via strategic litigation, as well as via integrating the aspect of gender in processes of policymaking and policies more efficiently.

Estonia has continued to be active at promoting human rights in 2013 on an international level. Estonia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council (2013-2015), member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2011-2015) and member of UN Children’s Fund (2011-2013). Estonian diplomat Tiina Intelmann is the President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court. Estonia is the founding member of Freedom Online Coalition (2011) and the president (2013-2014). Estonia’s priorities at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013 were guaranteeing the rights of women, children and indigenous people, as well as freedom of expression, which includes internet freedom, and fight against impunity. Estonia participated actively in the sessions of the council and review of human rights of other states.

One area where no changes took place is the funding of the office of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner from the state budget. The commissioner has been able to make use of foreign funds (the aforementioned Norwegian support), but as mentioned in the previous human rights report, this is a programme-based foreign funding, which limits its uses quite considerably. These funds are also meant for promoting only one area (gender equality), other areas receive no additional funding.[2]

Legislative developments

The amendment to the Insurance Activities Act, which came into force last spring, stated that differences in insurance premiums or insurance indemnities cannot be gender-based when ascertaining the risks. The insurers in sickness insurance are allowed to consider risks characteristic to persons of only one gender and to differentiate between insurance premiums and indemnities for men and women if need be. Pregnancy or motherhood may not influence the size of insurance premiums and indemnities.[3]

Paragraph 60 of the Employment Contracts Act, which states the right to receive a total of ten working days of paternity leave remunerated on the basis of his average wages (up to three times the average gross monthly salary in Estonia) came into force 1 January 2013, ending the constant reorganising of the paternity leave order. The paternity leave has been available for the fathers since 2002. Up until 1 January 2008 the daily rate of the paternity leave had been 66 kroons (4.25 euros). In 2008 remuneration for paternity leave was based on the average salary, a year later the paid leave was done away with due to state budget cuts. From 1 January 2009 until 31 December 2012 the father had a right to paternity leave, but it was not remunerated from the state budget.

Now the remunerated leave has been reinstated.[4]

There have been no developments in implementation sphere of the Equal Treatment Act, although the Chancellor of Justice drew attention to its possible contravention with the constitution as far back as in 2011 in relation to proceeding an appeal on discrimination based on political opinion. Chancellor of Justice drew attention to the fact that an exhaustive list of areas given in the Equal Treatment Act where the act is applicable (and also distinguishing the area of application according to bases of discrimination) may be in contradiction with the state’s obligation to guarantee persons’ protection from unequal treatment stated in § 12(1) in conjunction with paragraphs 13 and 14 of the constitution. Chancellor of Justice found that the purpose of the Equal Treatment Act cannot limit itself to adopting the minimum requirements of EU directives in the national law, but that the constitution and international agreements must be considered when forming a legal regulation, and sent a letter of notice on this to the Ministry of Social Affairs.[5] The Minister of Social Affairs announced in 2013 that the analysis of the sphere of application of the Equal Treatment Act and the assessment of the effects will be included in the 2014 working plan of Ministry of Social Affairs.[6]

Court practice

Several disputes on discrimination reached the court of appeal last year.

The plaintiff in the civil matter no 2-12-32921/24 found that they have been discriminated against based on their nationality and/or age in the hiring process. The plaintiff took part in the competition for hiring a project manager, but was not chosen. The plaintiff turned to the commissioner’s office in 2012. The commissioner found that the respondent had not breached the principle of equal treatment in the hiring process, the same conclusion was also reached by the county court. Neither was unequal treatment in the hiring process detected by the circuit court. The conditions of the competition set the candidates the requirement that their English language skill must be at a high level and the requirement was justified considering the specifics of the project manager’s work. The plaintiff had written in their CV that their English skill was good in speech and comprehension, and average in writing. The circuit court found that based on the aforementioned the plaintiff had not met the requirement necessary for competing for the job and the respondent was justified in not including the plaintiff in further process. For the same reason it was not important who the respondent had invited on to the interview round.[7]

The plaintiff in the civil matter no 2-10-43528 was a Russian language teacher, whose work load at school had been reduced. The plaintiff suspected that they had been treated unequally because of their nationality, as the school had decided to rearrange Russian tuition so that the plaintiff’s (Russian national) work load decreased whereas the workload of their colleague (Estonian national) increased. The plaintiff turned to the commissioner’s office in 2010. The commissioner found in her opinion that unequal treatment was founded. The case went to court. In 2013 the circuit court did not find that the plaintiff had been treated unequally in this matter. The court found that the plaintiff’s work load had been reduced not because of their nationality, but because of their pedagogical skills, and that the reduction of work load had been founded.[8]

The plaintiff in administrative matter no 3-12-424 found that the activity of a public employer discriminates against the plaintiff because of their gender, specifically for being a parent and fulfilling their familial responsibilities. The plaintiff worked at a general department as the deputy of the director. The plaintiff had taken parental leave when two organisations were merged and the work was rearranged.

The general department was divided into two separate departments after the plaintiff returned to work and there were two directors of the general department, whereas the salary of the other director of the general department was 400 euros higher than that of plaintiff’s. The plaintiff’s salary was also smaller in comparison to other directors of departments within the organisation. The plaintiff found her salary was decreased because she had taken parental leave. The commissioner assisted the plaintiff in filing actions in the court of first instance as well as in court of appeal. The circuit court did not detect different treatment of the plaintiff in comparison to persons or groups in similar situations and found that there had been no discrimination. The court found that the differences in salaries of directors of departments stemmed solely from the fact that one of the organisations had had higher salaries before the merging and (which could not be reduced after the merge had taken place), not because of the pay rise, which had occurred while the plaintiff had been on parental leave, and therefore there was no basis for associating differences in salaries with the plaintiff’s parental leave. [9]

Work related disputes can, in addition to courts, also be also solved in labour dispute committees, which also award damages. 17 cases related to unequal treatment were solved by labour dispute committees in 2013, one of which was still being discussed at the end of the year. The largest number of appeals were lodged in relation to sexual discrimination on the basis of being a parent[10] (5 women and 1 man) and discrimination because of belonging to a trade union (4 appeals). There were also appeals relating to discrimination based on political or other opinion, age, language and nationality.[11] The number of labour disputes in 2013 was smaller than in 2012.[12]

In 2013 there were two cases in labour dispute committees, where the commissioner assisted the applicant in filing the appeal and/or representing the victim in disputes. Both cases had to do with redundancy of employees returning from parental leave.[13]

The first case had to do with an employee who returned to work after 4.5 years of parental leave and was made redundant the same day. It was proved at the labour dispute committee that the appellant’s redundancy had been directly linked to taking parental leave. The discrimination was in the fact that the employer did not consider the absent employee when making rearrangements. The labour dispute committee confirmed the requirement stated by law that the employer must offer the person returning from parental leave the same or an equal position to what the person held before taking the leave.

The employer was obliged to offer a 1000 euro compensation to the employee according to § 13(2) of the Gender Equality Act.

In the second case the person returning from parental leave was made redundant, because the company had formed a permanent contract of employment with the person who had substituted the person on leave. The applicant requested determining of sexual discrimination based on meeting their familial duties and for being a parent, and to be awarded 2000 euros for compensating for the damages caused by unequal treatment. The dispute ended with an agreement with the respondent and the appeal was removed from the labour dispute committee.

Statistics and surveys

The office of Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner was turned to on 403 occasions in 2013. In 116 cases the person suspected that they had been discriminated against or requested  and explanation for a question of unequal treatment. In roughly half the cases (61) the person suspected they had been discriminated against because of their gender, three such applications had to do with discrimination on multiple grounds (based on gender and age in one case, and gender and nationality in two other cases). The applicants were divided between men and women more or less equally. This proportion has remained the same in the last years.[14]

Exact figures, descriptions of cases and overviews (including in how many cases discrimination was detected) will be published in the commissioner’s 2013 overview in the spring of 2014.

The Chancellor of Justice processed one application, which was based on discrimination stated in this chapter, two applications were rejected.[15] The case in proceedings had to do with unequal treatment of a foreign student applying for the Erasmus stipend. The Chancellor of Justice did not detect a breach in this application.

An application was rejected where the applicant requested to check up on the fact that the Police and Border Guard Board officials stop and check the documentation based on persons’ skin colour. It was not evident from the application that the applicant’s rights had been breached and the Chancellor of Justice was unable to give his assessment based on a general application. The application where the applicant requested solving of a discrimination dispute in relation to extraordinary termination of employment contract by the employer was also rejected. The applicant was explained that according to the data presented in the application the Chancellor of Justice had no grounds for initiating conciliation procedure to solve the discrimination dispute. The court or the labour dispute committee should be turned to for resolution of labour disputes.

No conciliation procedures were initiated by the Chancellor of Justice in 2013.

In 2013 Estonian Human Rights Centre was turned to for counselling on 50 occasions, the third of the cases had to do with suspicions of discrimination. The persons who had come for counselling pointed out the following grounds they had experienced unequal treatment on: language, nationality, race, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, political opinion and religious conscience.

A complaint emerged in employment relationships that in educational institutions male employees were paid a higher salary than female employees. Another problem in educational institutions was that they were coming up with various ways for terminating employment contracts with older employees. There were also cases where the employer had derogatory attitude towards employees because of their gender, age, language, sexual orientation, nationality or colour.

There was an incident in the field of services where a bank refused to offer housing loan on the grounds of a person’s age. There were also problems on the rental market as lessors prefer persons based on their gender. Problems in prison were also reported, where the applicant was not given the opportunity to eat and wash himself according to his religious beliefs.

In the field of education there was a case where a child with disabilities was not given the opportunity to study at a regular school.

Several surveys on equal treatment in different fields were carried out in 2013.

The Institute of Baltic Studies and the Institute of International and Social Studies of Tallinn University implemented the research project “Promotion of equal treatment”, which aimed to analyse promotion of equal treatment and instances of unequal treatment on Estonian labour market based on nationality, race, colour and language. Firstly, a research was carried out among Estonian residents on the reception of the Equal Treatment Act, which gathered data on how well the Equal Treatment Act and the principles embedded in it were known. Secondly, the effect and sustainability of the publicly funded projects for promotion and increasing awareness of equal treatment were assessed. Thirdly, good practices of four EU Member States – The United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany and Finland – on promotion of equal treatment on the labour market were observed. The results of the research point to a real need for a more active promotion of equal treatment. It became apparent that there is no shared understanding of the principle of equal treatment in Estonian society as well as implementation of the Equal Treatment Act and protection of rights in general. This applies to officials, employers, the media and the population as a whole. Despite the low level of awareness, there is also noticeable interest for this topic.[16]

The survey of social groups in integration areas analysing the experience, needs, expectations and opportunities in Estonian integration policy target and integrated groups was published in autumn of 2013. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods were used to describe the target groups and to ascertain their needs.[17]

The third monitoring of gender equality ordered by Ministry of Social Affairs was carried out in 2013. The earlier monitorings had been published in 2003, 2005 and in 2009.[18] The purpose of the monitoring is to gather information on opinions, stereotypes, attitudes, behaviours on gender equality in Estonian society, and changes in them.

The respondents of the 2013 monitoring were asked, among other things, whether they had experienced unequal treatment based on their gender at work, and about awareness on Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner.

12% of respondents had experienced unequal treatment based on their gender in the last four years in regards to their salaries. Such treatment had occurred a little bit more among women (14%) than men (10%). Unequal treatment was also experienced in regards to access to training (9% of women, 6% of men), receiving information (13% of women, 9% of men), distribution of work load (12% of women, 9% of men), promotion (9% of women, 4% of men) and in assessment of their professional skills and knowledge (13% of women, 8% of men).[19]

48% of respondents had heard of the institution of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner. Men were marginally more informed on this than women (51% v. 46%). 34% of respondents would turn to the commissioner when experiencing unequal treatment, an equal amount of respondents would not do that. 32% are not sure whether they would do this in the described situation. There were more women and persons of other nationalities among those who would turn to the commissioner. The number of people who would potentially turn to the commissioner decreases as the age increases.[20]

Estonian Institute of Human Rights in cooperation with Turu-uuringute AS carried out a survey “Freedom of religion in Estonia 2013”, which consisted of an opinion poll of the population, in-depth interviews with experts, assessments of international organisations and other states about Estonia and their own recommendations to the state authorities. 91% of participants in the opinion poll thought that there are no problems with guaranteeing freedom of religion in Estonia (4% thought the opposite). 92% believed the freedom of religion had not been breached, 2% believed that it had happened. 4% of the population has had to hide their religious beliefs. Similarly to the participants of the poll, the participating experts (representatives of religious associations, NGOs, the media and state authorities, and religious and law scholars) thought that freedom of religion had been well guaranteed for the population of Estonia. There is no state church, various religions cooperate and there are no religious limitations. When it came to more particular questions the experts had a wide range of opinions based on their background. Several problems, which are worth working on in depth in the future were also pointed out, for example, the need to increase people’s awareness in questions related to religion and freedom of religion.[21]

Good practices

The Ministry of Social Affairs, within the gender equality program of the European Social Fund, carried out an awareness raising campaign on gender equality, which focused on gender stereotypes, their negative effects and called on letting go of these stereotypes. Essential parts of this campaign were video clips and career days aimed at boys and girls.[22]

The idea of the seven video clips was to show everyday situations, which had been influenced by gender stereotypes, drawing attention to negative effects of aged stereotypes and helping people recognise them. The themes of video clips were: unequal pay for equal work, gender segregation on labour market, stereotypes affecting women’s and men’s opportunities to combine work and family life and to have a career, etc. The video clips proved very popular and by now have been watched more than 200,000 times via various channels. The clips have also drawn attention outside Estonia.

Career days for young people took place in spring and autumn of 2013, where boys were introduced to traditionally “women’s careers”, for example, nursing, tailoring, teaching, and the girls to “men’s careers”, such as aviation engineering, military careers and mining. The idea of career days for boys and girls was to not let young people influence themselves by stereotypes when making career choices. The feedback from young people was very positive, and although there were fewer of those who thought that the demonstrated careers might be for them, a larger part said they now see a wider selection of potential careers than before.

The Estonian Association of Business and Professional Women carried out the action against the pay gap between men and women “Tilliga ja tillita”, which has been taking place several years in a row, celebrating April 11th as the day of equal pay (which indicates the number of extra days that women would have to work this year to earn the same pay as men did last year). On the day of equal pay restaurants all over Estonia offered dishes with dill and without dill for two different prices. Dishes with dill were 27.7% more expensive than the same dishes without dill, pointing to the fact that the average pay gap between men and women in Estonia is 27.7%. The campaign has been gathering more attention each year and last year more than 30 restaurants all over Estonia took place.[23] The organisers themselves have seen the rise in awareness as the greatest positive change. While previously the restaurants had to be persuaded to participate, in 2013 several of them indicated interest in participating themselves. People also asked for information and recommendations about restaurants where dishes with dill and without dill were being served – such queries had not occurred earlier.

Two network projects on human rights were initiated last year, both funded by the NGO Fund of EEA Grants via Open Estonia Foundation.

Estonian Human Rights Centre carries out the project “Equal Treatment Network”. The main objective of the project is to promote the principle of equal treatment and increase the efficiency of protection from discrimination via network based strategic advocacy activities and cooperation between non-governmental organisations. The members of the network, in addition to the Estonian Human Rights Centre, are Estonian Women’s Roundtable, Estonian Chamber of Disabled Persons, Estonian LGBT Union, Estonian National Youth Council and Tallinn Human Rights Information Centre. The project has been chosen as an example of good practice because of close and effective cooperation between the organisations. The member organisations have trained their sub organisations on the topic of equal treatment, they document their cases of discrimination among their members, they also have shared their experiences in strategic advocacy activities.[24]

Tallinn Law School at Tallinn University of Technology project on equal treatment “Diversity Enriches” has, for the last two years, focused on equal treatment and promotion of diversity in the business sector. The Diversity Charter, which businesses who value the principle of equal treatment, can become parties to aims to achieve that aim.[25] 17 companies became parties to this charter in 2012, 14 more were added in 2013, and several topical seminars took place. The companies were mostly interested in topics of recruitment and equal treatment, particularly because of the Gustav Adolf Grammar School’s search for a male cook, which was extensively covered by the media. On the other hand, the network focused on recruitment of persons with disabilities and supporting them in work environment, as the companies find it more and more difficult to find new employees, and also the coming Capability for Work Reform has brought attention to persons with disabilities as an untapped resource.

Noteworthy public discussions

Estonia’s first black candidate Abdul Turay,[26] who was elected to Tallinn city government received attention at the local elections in autumn. Women’s representation in politics was under discussion.[27] While 40% of the candidates were women, women made up just 31% of the persons elected.[28] The proportion of women at local government elections increased marginally in comparison to past elections – at 2009 and 2005 elections women made up 29.6% of persons elected.[29] Despite the cooperation memorandum concluded in 2012 between Estonian Association of Business and Professional Women and representatives of political parties in government,[30] the “zipper system” was used only in a few electoral districts when putting together lists of candidates at the 2013 local elections.

Some curious incidences during election campaign sparked more discussion.

For example, a candidate for mayor of Haapsalu replied to the question of a reporter of “Aktuaalne kaamera” whether a woman could belong to a male Haapsalu city government that “men would be more suitable to run the town”,[31]and a Tallinn mayor candidate used the techniques of feminist protest group Femen originating from protest actions against sexual exploitation of women in the Ukraine, and let topless women carry out his election campaign. Both incidences were met with criticism.[32]

Lively debate was raised by a wanted ad, where the Gustav Adolf Grammar School was looking for a young male chief cook. The headmaster Hendrik Agur explained the ad, which was solely aimed at men thus:

„It is deliberate that we are looking for a male chief cook in cooperation with the school’s catering company. We believe in this vision and that is why we say so clearly in our advertisement. Why should we beat around the bush and create legitimate expectations in imitation of gender equality to persons who do not have a hope in getting the position of chief cook. The personnel in the kitchen is 100% female anyway.”[33]

The experts working on the Gender Equality Act and the Equal Treatment Act considered the ad a direct discrimination based on gender[34] and also discrimination based on age.[35] The discussion around the ad also had a positive outcome. This remarkably increased the interest of employers and recruitment companies is how to guarantee equal treatment during the recruitment process, participation in seminars on the topic increased, as did requests for information.[36]

In addition to the school cook issue the topic of discrimination based on age arose in relation to the age restriction set for persons wanting to take part in the Estonian Dance Celebration,[37] and also an employer publicly complaining that young people are not a competent work force.[38]

Recommendations

To the government

•    Harmonise the basis for protection from discrimination on all grounds and review the concordance of the Equal Treatment Act with the constitution, extending the former’s scope of application if need be. At the moment the prohibition of discrimination based on gender, nationality, race or colour extends further than prohibition of discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or other beliefs. Similarly to nationality and race, discrimination on those grounds should also be prohibited in receiving services of social welfare, healthcare and social security, including social benefits, in education and access to goods and services which are available to the public, including housing.  At the moment the Equal Treatment Act does not apply to discrimination based on political beliefs, which is prohibited by the constitution (see legislative developments).

•    Bring the funding of the commissioner in accordance with the duties of the commissioner.

•    Adopt development plans in various areas for promotion of equality and guaranteeing equal opportunities on other grounds.

For non-governmental organisations

•    Actively direct the debate on issues of discrimination; carry out research, draw attention to problem areas experienced by people in Estonia via facts and case stories, offer solutions.

•    Help persons who have experienced discrimination take strategically important cases to court (strategic litigation).

•    Pressure political parties to take clearer positions with their programmes on issues of equality and equal treatment.



[1] Order of the Government of the Republic confirming the composition of the council. Available at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/329102013003.

[2] Human Rights in Estonia 2012. Available at: https://humanrights/inimoiguste-aruanne-2/inimoigused-eestis-2012/diskrimineerimise-keeld/.

[3] The process, final text and explanatory memorandum to the Draft Act. Available at: http://www.riigikogu.ee/index.php?page=en_vaade&op=ems&enr=349SE&koosseis=12.

[4] Available at: http://www.sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee/isapuhkus-ja-lapsepuhkus/.

[5] Available at: http://oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/field_document2/.

6iguskantsleri_margukiri_vordse_kohtlemise_seaduse_kohaldamisala_maaratlemine.pdf.

[6] See “Järelpäring” (Available at: http://dokumendihaldus.sm.ee/Letters/2013/Sotsiaalministeerium_paring.pdf) and “Vastus teabe nõudmisele” (Available at: http://dokumendihaldus.sm.ee/Letters/2013/Oiguskantsleri_teabe_noudele_vastus.pdf).

[7] Judgment. Available at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/kohtuteave/maa_ringkonna_kohtulahendid/

menetlus.html?kohtuasjaNumber=2-12-32921/24.

[8] The court decision also discusses expiration of claims and the breach of personality rights by the employer in regards to turning to the commissioner (Equal Treatment Act § 3(6)). Available at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/kohtuteave/maa_ringkonna_kohtulahendid/

menetlus.html?kohtuasjaNumber=2-10-43528/41.

[9] Judgment. Available at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/kohtuteave/maa_ringkonna_kohtulahendid/menetlus.html?kohtuasjaNumber=3-12-424/49.

[10] According to the Gender Equality Act less favourable treatment of a person in connection with pregnancy and child-birth, parenting, and performance of family obligations is considered a direct discrimination based on sex. § 3(1) p 3.

[11] Correspondence with the Labour Inspectorate. 31.01.2014.

[12] In 2012 there were 23 disputes concerning discrimination discussed at labour dispute committees.

[13] Correspondence with the office of Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner. 14.02.2014.

[14] Correspondence with the office of Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner. 20.02.2014.

[15] Correspondence with the office of the Chancellor of Justice. 14.02.2014. All the described proceedings are of restricted access and cannot be found on the website of Chancellor of Justice. Available at: http://oiguskantsler.ee/et/seisukohad-teade.

[16] Available at: http://www.ibs.ee/VKE/.

[17] Report (Available at: http://integratsioon.ee/files/raport_fin_fin.pdf) and a short summary with policy recommendations (Available at: http://integratsioon.ee/files/eesti%20kokkuvote-lop.pdf).

[18] The monitoring questionnaire has changed in ten years, therefore, the results are not always comparable. Monitoring reports of 2009 and 2005. Available at: http://www.sm.ee/fileadmin/meedia/Dokumendid/V2ljaanded/Toimetised/2010/toimetised_20101.pdf and http://www.sm.ee/fileadmin/meedia/Dokumendid/Sotsiaalvaldkond/kogumik/SVO_monitooring_2005.pdf.

[19] Ministry of Social Affairs (to be published). Soolise võrdõiguslikkuse monitooring 2013 [Monitoring on gender equality 2013].

[20] Ibid.

[21] Available at: http://www.eihr.ee/usuvabadus-2013/.

[22] Available at: http://www.stereotyyp.ee/.

[23] The campaign has been organised since 2010. Available at: http://www.bpw-estonia.ee/tilliga-ja-tillita/tutvustus_2.

[24] Website for the project. Available at: https://humanrights/vordne-kohtlemine-2/vordse-kohtlemise-vorgustik/.

[25] Available at: http://www.erinevusrikastab.ee/et/ettevotjale/mitmekesisuse-kokkulepe.

[26] See for example: Abdul Turay kandideerib Tallinnas SDE nimekirjas [Abdul Turay is running as a candidate in the list of the Social Democratic Party]. Available at: http://www.postimees.ee/1351372/abdul-turay-kandideerib-tallinnas-sde-nimekirjas.

[27] See for example: http://epl.delfi.ee/news/arvamus/mari-liis-sepper-kas-kandidaadil-on-sugu.d?id=66840269.

[28] Available at: http://info.kov2013.vvk.ee/uldinfo/.

[29] Soolise võrdõiguslikkuse ja võrdse kohtlemise volinik vaatles valimisnimekirju ja valimistulemusi soo lõikes [The Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner inspected the lists of candidates and election results according to genders.]. Available at: http://www.svv.ee/index.php?id=621.

[30] Available at: http://bpw-estonia.ee/admin/upload/koost%C3%B6%C3%B6memorandum%209_11_2012.jpg.

[31] Available at: http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/

haapsalu-linnapeakandidaat-peeter-vikman-linna-peab-juhtima-mees.d?id=66659871.

[32] See, for example: „Martin Kask: Linnapeakandidaat Vikman peab enda kandidatuuri taandama“ [Vikman running as a candidate for the mayor must withdraw his candidature]. (Available at: http://online.le.ee/2013/09/02/martin-kask-linnapeakandidaat-vikman-peab-enda-kandidatuuri-taandama/) and „Fideelia-Signe Roots: Femeni lörtsitud ideaalid Tallinnas“ [Femen’s muddled ideals in Tallinn]. (Available at: http://epl.delfi.ee/news/arvamus/fideelia-signe-roots-femeni-lortsitud-ideaalid-tallinnas.d?id=66923214).

[33] Available at: http://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/c708cb76-693f-4510-976d-e1ba4e83ce37.

[34]Ibid.

[35] Available at: http://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/052cbc2c-28b2-4366-b0e8-13bade91e097.

[36] See the Diversity Charter of the project Diversity Enriches described under Good Practices subheading.

[37] See, for example: „2014. aasta tantsupeoks on tantsijaile seatud vanusepiirid“ [Age limits for the 2014 Dance Celebration]. (Available at: http://www.postimees.ee/2589682/2014-aasta-tantsupeoks-on-tantsijaile-seatud-vanusepiirid) and „Vassiljev: eakate tantsupeolt tõrjumine on inetu!“ [Keeping older people from the Dance Celebration is not nice!]. (Available at: http://www.postimees.ee/2590304/vassiljev-eakate-tantsupeolt-torjumine-on-inetu).

[38] Available at: http://tarbija24.postimees.ee/2612512/restoraniomanik-noored-tootajad-on-taiesti-suudimatud.