ELREC

ELREC is the acronym for the Edinburgh, UK, based Scottish charity Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council. It is registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator - OSCR with the number SC007896. Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council was known as Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council till December 2010. It is registered with Companies House as a charitable company limited by guarantee and its registration number is SC183419.

ELREC was set up in 1971 as Lothian Race Equality and subsequently renamed to Lothians Racial Equality Council and then to Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council till it was finally renamed to Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council. The latest name change of the charity reflects its move away from being a race equality charity to a charity that fights all kinds of inequalities and discrimination listed in the protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010. ELREC strives for equality especially of the following types: The following characteristics have been listed as protected characteristics as per the Equality Act of 2010: 1. age 2. disability 3. gender reassignment 4. marriage and civil partnership 5. pregnancy and maternity 6. race 7. religion or belief 8. [...] 9. [...] orientation

Objectives

The main objectives of ELREC are:

to work towards the elimination of discrimination in all its forms
to reduce inequality and promote a culture of human rights
to promote good relations between persons of protected characteristics without distinction on grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, gender, marital status, disability, [...] orientation, age and creed; and
to promote and organize cooperation in the achievement of the aforesaid purposes and to that end to bring together in ELREC representatives of the statutory authorities and voluntary organizations engaged in the furtherance of the aforesaid purposes within the Local Authority Council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian

Events

ELREC conducted a Equality Election Manifesto Meeting in Edinburgh which was attended by Cllr Andrew Burns, Leader of Labour Party, Cllr Jeremy Balfour, Leader of Conservative Party, Cllr Phil Wheeler, Liberal Democrat Party and Cllr Norman Work, Scottish National Party.

A follow up Equality Election Manifesto Meeting was held on 19 March 2012.

More recent meetings of the ELREC are:

Africa Day Celebrations 2012 on 26 May 2012 that was addressed by Kenny MacAskill MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Sarah Boyack MSP, Colin Keir MSP and Mark Lazarowicz MP.
South West Edinburgh Community Engagement Event at Tynecastle High School on 29 May 2012
Consultation Meeting to discuss immigration raids with UKBA on 31 May 2012 at the Scottish Parliament that was chaired by Kenny MacAskill MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice.