Homophobic and transphobic violence must be stopped

A few weeks ago, a peaceful Pride demonstration in Split, Croatia, was brutally attacked by thousands of hooligans, wounding over a dozen people. The counter-demonstrators by far outnumbered the police officers and Pride participants. The police did not fully succeed in protecting the demonstrators, who simply wanted to raise awareness about the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. These events unfolded after weeks of hate speech, threats, graffiti, flyers and social media inciting to hatred.

This is not the first time a manifestation against homophobia and transphobia has suffered assaults and threats from extremists.

In 2010 in Belgrade, Serbia, the police made heroic efforts to protect the first ever Belgrade Pride, but around 150 persons were injured during the confrontations, most of them police officers. Again, the counter-demonstrators outnumbered by far those marching in favour of LGBT rights.

In Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2010, the authorities had to mobilise a large police contingent to shield the Baltic Pride March from violent attackers.

There is a growing awareness among local authorities that peaceful Pride events must be allowed and protected; LGBT persons have the same rights as others to freedom of assembly and expression. This acknowledgement is of course positive.

The continued need for massive police protection however is very negative. It is high time for European politicians to seriously tackle the phenomena of homophobia and transphobia and their root causes. The first step is to recognise that the problem is serious and that systematic action is needed to promote awareness on all levels in society. Then there is an urgent need to counter all tendencies of discrimination against this group of people - also in official human rights and equality policies.

In the past five years I have monitored the implementation of human rights for LGBT persons in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. The result was recently published in a report: “Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe”.

The report lists a number of obstacles to the full enjoyment of their universal human rights. It shows, for example, that homophobic and transphobic harassment in the workplace and bullying of LGBT persons in schools is common in practically all member states. The official registration of LGBT organisations was obstructed or refused in five countries in Europe, and attempts to criminalise “propaganda or promotion of homosexuality” were identified in three member states.

There has been little response to national studies and reports which flag that a disproportionate number of young LGBT persons see no other way out than committing suicide due to the non acceptance of their sexual orientation or gender identity by their peers and families. Very few countries recognise homophobic or transphobic violence in their hate crime legislation.

Transgender persons face particularly severe human rights problems in almost all areas of life. If they want their preferred gender to be legally recognised, in 29 member states they face a legal requirement to undergo gender reassignment surgery, leading to infertility. Some 15 member states even require the transgender person to be unmarried in order to obtain recognition, which entails mandatory divorce if the person is already married.

Too often politicians and policy makers ignore the human rights of LGBT persons when designing policies or drafting legislation. There are disturbing examples of debates in national parliaments which are characterised by a high level of prejudice, bias and outdated information, including claims that homosexuality is an illness

Governments need to pursue legislative reforms and social change to enable LGBT persons to fully enjoy universally recognised human rights. National and international monitoring, including by Equality Bodies and Ombudsman Offices, is needed to measure progress.

Change is only possible if European countries show more genuine political will to address this problem with much more determination than has so far been demonstrated.

Thomas Hammarberg

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Council of Europe launched its first and the comprehensive European study on the human rights situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people to date

Today, the Council of Europe launched its social-legal report on discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. This is the first ever report covering all 47 member states of the Council of Europe on a range of human rights issues that are pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people.

ILGA-Europe warmly welcomes this significant report which not only maps the legal situation but also highlights the social attitudes and opinions about LGBT people: while there is certain progress in some countries, others continue discrimination and violation of basic human rights of LGBT people.

When it comes to social attitudes, the report clearly demonstrates that LGBT people continue to be subjected to homophobia and transphobia in their everyday lives in all Council of Europe member states and those attitudes are being based on ‘outdated and incorrect information’ about sexual orientation, gender identity and gender .

The report contains a number of specific recommendations to the Council of Europe member states on how to end discrimination and ensure full equality for LGBT people. It also provides a number of recommendations on non-legislative measures such as state education programmes aiming to increase awareness and understanding of various sexual orientations and gender identities and therefore promote improvement of the social attitudes based on facts and objective information.

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said:
“This is a very important document which looks at the issues of equality and human rights of LGBT people from different angles and provides clear recommendations and suggestions to the Council of Europe member states. There is clear and urgent need to improve legislation to achieve full equality and respect for human rights. The legislation also needs to be supported by proper implementation plans and mechanisms to give its full and practical meaning. The report also looks at the issues of political will, social attitudes and current European consensus and again, provides a range of specific suggestions how the situation can be improved.

We hope that this report along with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers Recommendations adopted in March and a number of the judgements by the European Court of Human Rights, will provide European countries with a solid road map towards full equality and respect of LGBT people’s human rights. We believe there is sufficient European consensus and legal foundation for such improvement, all is required to fill the existing gaps is a political will of the national governments to bring their countries in line with the expected European standard.”

via ILGA-Europe

All 47 Counsil of Europe countries unanimously agree on historic human rights recommendations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

On March 31, 2010 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, representing the national governments of its 47 Member States, unanimously adopted historic Recommendations on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is the world’s first intergovernmental agreement codifying the application of human rights standards to LGBT people.

The Recommendations establish how international human rights standards should be applied to LGBT people and contain specific measures for Member States on how they should improve their legislation, policies and practices to address discrimination against LGBT people in such areas as

- hate crime and hate speech;
- freedom of association, expression and peaceful assembly;
- right to respect for private and family life;
- employment;
- education;
- health;
- housing;
- sports;
- right to seek asylum.

Additionally, the Recommendations prescribe that Member States should ensure that national human rights structures are clearly mandated to address discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. They also encourage Member States to address multiple discrimination experienced by LGBT people.

ILGA-Europe’s only regret is that the Member States did not go as far as we hoped for in some areas, particularly family rights.

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said:
“This is a truly historical development! For the first time in history the European continent came together to codify human rights’ applications to LGBT people. As we celebrate this landmark in European human rights history, we also hope that these Recommendations will help to advance the human rights for LGBT people beyond Europe. ”

Linda Freimane, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, added:
“These Recommendations go well beyond the current situation in many European countries for LGBT people and will surely serve as a blueprint for our members in working with their national governments. We will also follow closely the three year review mechanism agreed by the Committee of Ministers to ensure the full implementation. Finally, we encourage the Council of Europe to organise a campaign among its Member States to promote these Recommendations.”

The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Foreign Affairs Ministers of all the Member States, or their permanent diplomatic representatives in Strasbourg.

The full text of the Recommendations is available on the Committee of Minister’s website.

sources: ILGA-Europe
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