PART TWO: CONTENT OF COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW to recruitment and promotion) at least every three years. To ensure “fair participation in employment”, employers are empowered to take “affirmative action” and may be required to implement positive action measures by the Equality Commission, which may issue sanctions for non-compliance. The Order has proved to be a significant driver of change in terms of equality in employment in the Northern Ireland workforce. In 2004, an evaluation of the fair employment framework in Northern Ireland553 found evidence of: (a) A substantial improvement in the employment profile of Catholics; PART TWO – I (b) A considerable increase in the numbers of people working in integrated workplaces, in contrast to continuing segregation in public housing; (c) Employers indicating that strong legislation has helped change practices and evidence suggesting that affirmative action agreements have helped to redress workplace underrepresentation.554 Equality engagement under the Order has also worked to strengthen diversity and correct internal obstacles to inclusion and advancement for women, minorities, persons with disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS, non-citizens and others. In conceptual terms, such orders supplement the existing “fire alarm” (i.e. dependent on a complaint from a victim) system of response to discrimination, with an additional “police patrol” (i.e. regular review of equality and diversity issues in individual companies) system. Experience indicates that, for the purposes of tackling the exclusion of stigmatized or marginalized groups, both “fire alarm” and “police patrol” control systems are needed.555 As a result of the success of the model, other countries have also included similar powers in national comprehensive anti-discrimination laws and have extended powers to the supervision of diversity in local authorities.556 (c) Mainstreaming duties Mainstreaming duties regulate the actions of public authorities and aim to integrate equality planning into all levels of public decision-making, including in the development of “legislation, budgets, policy and programmes”.557 Both the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have recognized an obligation on States to mainstream equality considerations into the policy process.558 553 Robert D. Osborne and Ian Shuttleworth, eds., Fair Employment in Northern Ireland, A Generation On (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 2004). 554 Ibid. 555 On “police patrol” and “fire alarm” administrative oversight mechanisms in the area of equality law, see Ayelet Shachar, “Privatizing diversity: a cautionary tale from religious arbitration in family law”, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, vol. 9, No. 2 (2008). 556 See, for example, Act CXXV of Hungary of 2003 on equal treatment and the promotion of equal opportunities, as amended. Section 14 (1) (a) of the law stipulates in the list of its tasks that the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights “shall carry out an investigation, on the basis of an application, as to whether or not employers who were required to do so adopted an equal opportunities plan, and take a decision based on the investigation”. Section 17/A (6) of the Act (about the legal consequences of violation) stipulates that: “If the Authority establishes that an employer who was required to adopt an equal opportunities plan failed to do so, it shall invite the employer to rectify the omission, and it may apply the legal consequences specified in paragraph (1) c) to e) while applying paragraphs (3) to (4) accordingly.” Available at https://njt.hu/translation/J2003T0125P_20210301_FIN.PDF. 557 Crowley, Making Europe More Equal, p. 30. 558 In both its general recommendations and concluding observations, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recognized States’ gender mainstreaming obligations. See, for instance, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 24 (1999), para. 31 (a); and CEDAW/C/BGR/CO/8, para. 14 (a). See also Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4 (1) (c); and Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), paras. 14–15. 71