In Northern Ireland, the newly-created Equality Commission had its first meeting at the end of last week and is now operational. However, much about it is still transitional and undefined.
The Equality Commission of Northern Ireland brings together four organisations which were respectively responsible for fighting discrimination on religious and political grounds, and on the grounds of race, sex and disability.
The unification of the four is not yet complete and four directorates will continue to operate, at least for a time. In the past the issues of religious discrimination - as between Catholic and Protestant - and political affiliation loomed large and it remains to be seen how the other discrimination issues will fare when they are part of a single equality agenda.
The chief commissioner of the commission, Ms Joan Harbison, is optimistic about this. "When we look at equality in a broad way it is inevitable that we see it as not the prerogative of any one group. When you include race, disability and gender, there is no one that does not affect."
There will also be a unit working on "statutory duty", the term used to describe the new obligation on all public bodies to promote equality of opportunity. This came in under the recent Northern Ireland Act, the product of the Belfast Agreement.
However, it is not yet clear how comprehensive the remit of the "statutory duty" obligation will be. Asked if it would apply to the RUC, the prison service and the immigration service, the former two overwhelmingly male and Protestant, Ms Harbison said its full remit had yet to be spelt out. This would be done in a Designation Bill, now being prepared.
At the moment, the Equality Commission reports to the Northern Ireland Office. If and when devolution happens, it will report to the Northern Ireland Assembly and to an equality unit in the office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
A Human Rights Commission has also been set up under the Belfast Agreement and Ms Harbison said the Equality Commission looked forward to working closely with it.