A plan to fight racism and increase diversity in the civil service will be adopted on Friday by the Council of Ministers, announced Minister of the Civil Service Petra De Sutter and State Secretary for Equal Opportunities Sarah Schlitz.
The move comes after figures by Belgium's statistical office Statbel revealed that the civil service is low on diversity: just 12.5% of federal civil servants are citizens with non-European origins, and only 7% of those with non-European origins hold a master's degree.
Among federal staff with a secondary school diploma, the figure drops to 6.3%. The largest number of civil servants from a non-European country (9%) is found among those who had lower secondary education or no diploma.
Action plan
Around €300,000 will be allocated to combatting discrimination and racism and promoting diversity in the public service. De Sutter and Schlitz want to focus on measuring, preventing and remedying.
First, they want a study to determine the obstacles that people of non-European origin encounter during the selection process. A survey to establish the image of federal administrations, as an employer, with these people will also be launched.
Federal public authorities will then use the data to develop new diversity and action plans, as well as organise regular training and awareness campaigns to make people aware of prejudice. Civil servants will get anti-discrimination training and welfare legislation to be better informed of their rights and obligations.
To promote diversity within their staff, diversity plans will be required to show quantified objectives, actions and reports of discrimination to Unia, the Interfederal Center for Equal Opportunities.
Administrations will be mandated to appoint reference officials in their international operations, who are responsible for implementing these plans.
