1.The EU Aid Volunteers initiative shall be open to all eligible candidates regardless of their nationality, sex, race, ethnic origin, age, social background, religion or belief, marital status or sexual orientation and of whether they have a disability.
2.Sending and hosting organisations shall commit to the principles of equal treatment, equal opportunities and non-discrimination. These principles shall be fully integrated into the procedure for identification, selection and recruitment, and preparation of volunteers and into performance management policies and practices.
1.The sending organisation shall have a statement of principle and a policy in place to ensure that workplace practices reflect the principles of equal treatment, equal opportunities and non-discrimination and promote an inclusive organisational culture.
2.The equal treatment, equal opportunities and non-discrimination policy referred to in paragraph 1 shall as a minimum:
(a)comply with relevant Union and national legislation and seek to avoid or to address and remove discriminatory policies and practices, including any barriers to employment for all groups identified in that legislation and/or known to be liable to encounter prejudices when seeking employment and thus to be at risk of under-representation;
(b)cover, but not be limited to, all aspects of the volunteer's experience, including individual standards of behaviours, advertisement of placement, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, working conditions including pay and dismissal procedures;
(c)clearly state the roles and responsibilities of all staff and volunteers, senior management and leadership teams, human resources departments and any other stakeholders identified by the organisation;
(d)be regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure that it remains in accordance with the relevant legislation and that it is being correctly and effectively implemented.
3.The hosting organisation shall give written acknowledgement to the sending organisation of the principle of and the policy on equal treatment, equal opportunities and non-discrimination, and shall advise the sending organisation of any exceptions to be made in defining the role and profile of the EU Aid Volunteer, made necessary by the specific context of its work.
4.The sending organisation shall support the hosting organisation in implementing the policy on equal treatment, equal opportunities and non-discrimination and, by way of exception, support hosting organisations in making context-specific adjustments to these principles, where necessary.
5.Where possible, the sending organisation shall provide appropriate training and briefing on the policy and its principles to all staff on a regular basis, in order to ensure that all stakeholders understand, support and implement the policy.