brap have been commissioned by the Equality and Diversity Forum to write a paper on good practice in preventing or managing potential conflicts between different equality rights.

We would really like to hear from you if you can think of examples you may have encountered where the rights of an individual or a group have conflicted with the rights of another - for example, where somebody’s right to express their beliefs has prevented others from enjoying particular rights such as the right to work. These conflicts could be in a range of settings (the workplace, public authorities, voluntary sector and in communities), could relate to conflicts between a range of groups (gender, age, class, etc) and could relate to conflicts between a range of rights that people feel are important to them.

We'd be particularly keen to hear about some of the more successful approaches to managing and resolving competing/ conflicting equality claims like this. This is potentially an opportunity for your own organisation to showcase good practice in this regard.

About the Project

The types of conflicts we are referring to are situations in which the rights claimed by an individual or group of people have threatened, or been perceived to threaten, the rights of others. For example, there have been a number of instances in which the rights of people to freedom of expression have conflicted with the rights of people to freedom of religion, such as the Behzti play in Birmingham in 2004 which was cancelled because of conflicting rights between the playwright and members of the Sikh community.

The focus of this research is on how conflict between different ‘equality rights’ can be best prevented or managed. How should decisions be made on the relative merits or weight of particular ‘equality claims’? How should the rules of engagement for debate/discussion of these issues be established and encouraged given the particular development and context of social life and social policy in the UK?

We aim to gather examples of good practice in preventing or managing potential conflicts between different equality rights. Rather than focus on legal cases that have been through the courts, we want to focus on practical on the ground examples of managing conflict. The paper will provide practical examples to help inform future practice by a range of organisations such as government departments, local authorities, service providers, educational bodies and NGOs.

For more information, or to share your evidence please feel free to email Asif Afridi at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call on 0121 456 7400.

Comments (0)

Recommend this article...