Equal Opportunities Commission

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) was established as an independent statutory body under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance on May 20, 1996 and started full operation on September 20 that year. The commission is tasked to oversee the implementation of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance. The functions of the commission include handling complaints, encouraging conciliation between parties in dispute, providing assistance to aggrieved persons, and undertaking public education and research programmes to promote equal opportunities in the community.

In 2001, the commission handled 12 470 enquiries and 2 063 complaints relating to the three anti-discrimination ordinances. It undertook various publicity and educational programmes such as the campaign to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace in April, and the launching of a children's TV series highlighting different stories of sex discrimination, disability discrimination and family status discrimination in June. In July, the Code of Practice on Education under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance came into operation. The code was proposed by the commission with the aim of assisting educational establishments in fulfilling the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Ordinance.