Bridging the Divide?

National equality bodies (NEBs) and national human rights institutions (NHRIs) play important roles in promoting respect for human dignity and fundamental rights in many European states. Both types of body engage in similar activities, perform similar functions, have similar legal powers and seek to achieve similar objectives. However, a number of EU member states have recently established single combined bodies which are designed to perform the functions of both NEBs and NHRIs. The emergence of this new hybrid model of institution – an integrated equality/ human rights body – is a relatively new development in the EU. However, it has received little attention in the academic literature or in official reports. This gap is unfortunate, as the establishment of these new integrated institutions represents an ambitious and interesting attempt to ‘bridge the divide’ between equality and human rights. The challenges they face in giving effect to their integrated equality/human rights mandates tells us something about the extent of this divide. This article looks into the potential and challenges of this hybrid model of institution.