On International Lesbian Day, we highlight the recent report by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, emphasising the need for targeted policies to protect lesbians from violence and discrimination across Europe

Lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women face profound challenges rooted in discrimination, violence, and systemic inequality. The recent resolution and report  adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 03 October highlights the urgent need for comprehensive policies that address these issues. Intersectional discrimination, where sexual orientation and gender intersect for LBQ women and the marginalisation that stems from that intersection, complicates the landscape of human rights that LBQ women should have access to, requiring specific actions to ensure their protection. 

The report outlines that LBQ women, including trans and intersex LBQ women, experience multiple forms of violence and harassment, which can manifest in both public and private spheres. Violence ranges from physical assaults and psychological abuse to online harassment, often targeting women who do not conform to traditional gender roles. For instance, a survey by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency highlighted that 33% of lesbian women in Europe have avoided public spaces out of fear of violence or harassment, demonstrating the pervasive atmosphere of insecurity they face.

This violence is intensified for racialised LBQ women, who navigate an additional layer of discrimination. The report notes that racial stereotypes can subject them to heightened prejudice, affecting their access to healthcare, housing, and employment. Many racialised LBQ women report feeling pressure to conform to heterosexual norms, further marginalising their identities and experiences.

The effect of anti-gender movements

The increasing influence of anti-gender movements across Europe worsens these issues, aiming to silence and delegitimise the rights of LGBTI people, particularly LBQ women. The report emphasises the need for legislative frameworks that protect human rights, asserting that all women should have equal access to the protection and support guaranteed by international conventions, such as the Istanbul Convention. The resolution calls for Member States to enact anti-discrimination laws that address not only sexual orientation but also gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, creating an inclusive environment for all.

Education challenges prejudice

Furthermore, the resolution highlights the importance of inclusive education programmes as a means of challenging prejudice. Educational institutions must serve as spaces for progress, promoting understanding of diverse identities while dismantling harmful stereotypes. By co-creating a culture of respect and inclusivity, we can work towards reducing the stigma and violence faced by LBQ women.

Comprehensive policies 

To move beyond mere visibility and call for actionable change, the resolution notes that governments must adopt comprehensive policies that protect the rights of LBQ women, ensuring that their voices are heard in legislative processes. This includes but is not limited to recognising the parental rights of same-sex couples, ensuring equitable access to healthcare, and supporting emergency shelters that cater specifically to the needs of LBQ women.

By adopting the recommendations presented in the resolution, we can create a safer and more inclusive Europe where every lesbian can live authentically and with less fear of violence or discrimination. It is crucial to transform visibility into meaningful action, ensuring that no one is overlooked in the continuous fight for equality.

The Council of Europe (COE) is currently conducting its 3rd review of the implementation of the Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5, which outlines measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In response to this process, ILGA-Europe has prepared a regional report in collaboration with IGLYO, along with input from 27 member organisations and other regional LGBTI networks, to reflect on the progress made since the adoption of the Recommendation in 2010. 

A mixed picture of progress

The report presents a complex reality. While some CoE member states have taken significant steps forward, others have stagnated or even regressed in their protections of LGBTI people. Key areas of concern include access to legal gender recognition, protection from violence, and equal treatment in education, healthcare, and employment.

However, there are also positive developments. In the 14 years since the adoption of the Recommendation, progress has been made across the region, demonstrating that equality is achievable when governments work closely with civil society. The report calls on the Council of Europe to fully incorporate civil society perspectives into its upcoming 2025 regional report, alongside self-assessments made by member states, ensuring that the voices of LGBTI people are heard and acted upon.

About the report

This review draws on the input of civil society organisations from 27 Council of Europe member states. Organisations completed a detailed questionnaire, which aligns with the thematic areas of the original 2010 Recommendation. The questionnaire gathered both quantitative and qualitative data on key areas such as:

• Right to life, security, and protection from violence
• Legal gender recognition
• Freedom of association and expression
• Non-discrimination in health, education, employment, and housing
• Protection of LGBTI children and young people

To provide a thorough analysis, this data was supplemented with consultations with national authorities, desk research, and ILGA-Europe’s own monitoring efforts. The report also benefited from contributions by other European networks, including TGEU, OII-Europe, and EL*C, ensuring a comprehensive look at the progress and setbacks in LGBTI rights across the region.

Contributing organisations

This report would not have been possible without the contributions of the following civil society organisations:

• Albania: Alliance Against Discrimination of LGBTI (Aleanca LGBTI)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sarajevo Open Center
• Bulgaria: Youth LGBT organization Deystvie (Deystvie), Single Step
• Croatia: Za Pravo; Proces – udruga za promicanje queer kulture i LGBTIQ+ prava
• Cyprus: Accept LGBTI+ CYPRUS, Queer Cyprus Association, Queer Collective CY
• Czechia: Transparent, Jsme fér, In-Iustitia
• Finland: SETA – LGBTI rights in Finland
• France: Human Development Research Initiative
• Georgia: Equality Movement, Tbilisi Pride, Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Georgian Democratic Initiative
• Greece: Colour Youth – Athens LGBTQ Youth Community
• Hungary: Háttér Society, Transvanilla Transgender Association
• Ireland: LGBT Ireland
• Italy: Rete Lenford – Avvocatura per i Diritti LGBTI+
• Lithuania: National LGBTI Rights Organization LGL (Lithuanian Gay League, LGL)
• Montenegro: Association Spectra, LGBT Forum Progress, Montenegrin LGBTIQ+ Association Queer Montenegro
• North Macedonia: TransFormA, Coalition Margins
• Poland: Lambda Warsaw Association, Love Does Not Exclude Association, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Interaction Foundation, Transprzyjaźń, tranzycja.pl (with input from independent scholar Kornel Sobczak)
• Portugal: Associação ILGA Portugal, Rede ex aequo 
• Republic of Moldova: GENDERDOC-M Information Centre 
• Romania: Asociația Pride
• Serbia: Labris, Kolektiv Talas TIRV/Collective wave TIGV
• Slovak Republic: Saplinq, o.z.
• Slovenia: Association Cultural, Informational and Counseling Center Legebitra
• Spain: Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Trans, Bisexuales, Intersexuales y más (FELGTBI+)
• Türkiye: SPoD, ÜniKuir
• Ukraine: Gender Stream
• United Kingdom: Mermaids

Additionally, contributions to the final report were made by the Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community (EL*C), Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe), and Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU).

ILGA-Europe and EL*C welcome the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029, launched yesterday in Strasbourg.

The Strategy includes a clearly intersectional approach that explicitly includes discriminations based on sex and gender and SOGIESC grounds, especially LBTI women. It also contains a commitment to leave no one behind and to achieve a gender-equal Europe for everyone. Crucially, the Strategy specifically identifies anti-gender and so-called “gender-critical” narratives as being used as tools to promote a broader agenda of opposing gender equality and women’s rights, while justifying “discriminatory practices and policies against individuals who challenge traditional gender roles and norms”.

For this reason, the Strategy adopts an intersectional approach in policies combating against violence against women and in data collection, while specific actions on LBTI women include the promotion of access to justice, actions concerning socio-economic rights and cooperation with relevant sectors and organisations to remove discrimination, sexism and gender stereotypes. The Strategy also specifically addresses the needs of GBTI men for the first time.

ILGA-Europe and EL*C, as the INGO Conference Representative to the Gender Equality Commission and an Observer of the Gender Equality Commission, respectively, worked collaboratively to achieve a strong, LGBTI-inclusive Strategy.  The work done together with Member States and the Council of Europe representatives has led to a Strategy that commits the Council of Europe to address gender equality together with the equality for LGBTI persons and other persons subject to multiple marginalisation. In the current socio-political context and with the rise of far-right and anti-gender narratives, it is key that these commitments are implemented. We will continue working with the Council of Europe and Member States to ensure this implementation in the next years.

The Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029 can be found here.

A brand new Issue Paper from the Council of Europe on Human Rights and Gender Identity and Expression not only sheds light on the challenges faced by trans and non-binary individuals across Europe and beyond, but also serves as a comprehensive tool for advocacy activism

The Council of Europe (COE) Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, has released a new Issue Paper which thoroughly examines the challenges faced by trans and non-binary people across Europe. The Paper includes a wide range of insights, recommendations and analysis, offering a comprehensive overview of the landscape of the rights of trans and non-binary people in Europe and beyond.

The Paper includes 15 recommendations aimed at policymakers, legal professionals, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, providing a clear roadmap for advancing the human rights of trans and non-binary people. These recommendations cover a wide range of demands activists have had for decades and cover a spectrum of directions, from fundamental reforms in legal recognition procedures, such as the removal of diagnosis and sterilisation requirements, to policy changes aimed at fostering greater inclusivity and respect for gender diversity, such as the call for the inclusion of non-binary gender markers on identity documents.

A dynamic new tool for change

This paper signals a renewed commitment of the COE to protecting the rights of trans and non-binary individuals, however, it is much more than that. It’s also a dynamic tool that provides a roadmap for advocacy efforts for legislative change. The 13 sub-chapters within the paper offer comprehensive analyses and recommendations, serving as robust advocacy tools in themselves, under these helpful headings:

•             Enjoyment of human rights

•             Equality and non-discrimination

•             Gender identity and gender expression conversion practices

•             Legal gender recognition

•             Violence, hate crimes and hate speech

•             Detention

•             Family life

•             Education

•             Sport

•             Employment

•             Poverty and housing

•             Healthcare

•             Sanitation

•             Asylum

Each sub-chapter is equipped with a wealth of references to human rights instruments, various studies, and laws, providing a solid foundation for advocacy work.

Let’s take recommendation No ’8 as an example:

Ensure that national laws prohibit discrimination due to gender identity and gender expression in all decisions relating to family life, including birth registration rules, custody, adoption and access to assisted reproductive technologies. When birth registration systems are gendered, trans people should be registered as parents in accordance with their gender identity, and alternative systems should continue to be explored to reflect the growing diversity of families.

Activists who have work on family rights for trans and non-binary people among their advocacy goals can go to chapter 2.6 in the paper, entitled Family Life. There are three subsections in the chapter: Parenthood, Parental status, and Trans families across borders. Each has references to case law or legal drafts and represents the Commissioner’s selection of arguments and resources that are most beneficiary to the cause.

In total, the paper includes 269 references, linked throughout. This not only demonstrates the depth of research underpinning the Issue Paper but also serves as a testament to its credibility and relevance in advocacy activism.

Powerful trans-inclusive terminology

The Paper also introduces a strong range of trans-inclusive terminology, ranging from “gender fluidity” to “non-binary identities,” thereby contributing to the normalisation and visibility of marginalised experiences. By embedding such terminology within a human rights framework, the paper not only validates the lived experiences of gender minorities but also challenges societal norms and stereotypes.

Consider the term “self-determination”, a concept prominently featured in discussions surrounding Legal Gender Recognition. This term, while commonplace in LGBTI activism discourse, holds profound implications for trans and non-binary individuals seeking autonomy over their gender identity. By unpacking such terminology within the Issue Paper, activists are equipped with the language and concepts necessary to articulate their demands and navigate legal and policy frameworks.

The importance of recognition

While LGBTI activists are intimately familiar with the gaps in trans and non-binary rights, it is of great importance that they are recognised and shed light upon in a forward-thinking paper from a human rights institution of such great influence, giving them further visibility across other movements and audiences. Through its comprehensive research, inclusive terminology, and actionable recommendations the Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity and Expression has every chance of contributing to our collective action in the advancing human rights of trans and non-binary people.

You can read the Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity and Expression here

The Council of Europe will, in 2024, conduct a third comprehensive review of the Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2010)5 (CM/Rec(2010)5). The CM/Rec(2010)5 was previously reviewed in 2013 and 2019, with coordinated civil society input those reviews.

This will involve the following steps for the Council of Europe and its Member States:

November 2023	Council of Europe preparation of a questionnaire for Member States
January 2024	Council of Europe pre-fills the questionnaire for Member States based on publicly available information and sends to governments
June 2024	Member States complete the questionnaire and return to CoE
2nd half 2024	CoE reviews materials from Member States and civil society, prepares report for review by the Steering Committee on Anti-discrimination, Diversity, and Inclusion in 2025

Civil society will have access to the unfilled questionnaire as of November 2023, and is encouraged to submit shadow reports based on the questionnaire.

Activities

To ensure strong civil society engagement, ILGA-Europe will support 20 organisations and groups to develop shadow assessments of the questionnaire and submit shadow reports. Additionally, ILGA-Europe will submit the Annual Reviews and Rainbow Maps for the covered time period, and compile a submission of regional specific trends based on the work of the civil society partners in the project.

In early December, ILGA-Europe will host a mandatory kick-off webinar on 13 December 2023 from 14h00 CET to 16h00 CET with all selected participants to talk about the project, the questionnaire, and specific questions for the process. Following this, participants will work independently until the end of February, when they will submit draft completed questionnaires to ILGA-Europe. ILGA-Europe staff will be available to provide 1-on-1 support for organisations and consortia during this period.

On 16 March, all participants will come to Brussels for a mandatory in-person 1-day consultation to discuss their drafts and overall issues with the process, share ideas about where to look for information, and plan their finalisation steps for their submissions. All travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs will be covered by ILGA-Europe for one person per organisation or consortium and do not need to be included in the project budget.

ILGA-Europe staff will remain available for 1-on-1 support following the consultation as participants finalise.

Participants will send their final submissions to ILGA-Europe in May, and will finalise the joint regional submission by the beginning of June. ILGA-Europe will submit all national submissions as well as the regional submission in June.

Timeline

Deadline / timeframe	Action
04 December 2023	Call for interest submissions from civil society applicants due
10 December 2023	ILGA-Europe informs civil society applicants of selections
13 December 2023	Kick-off webinar with civil society participants
From December 2023 to February 2024	Grantees work on the questionnaire independently; ILGA-Europe staff available upon request
28 February 2024	Civil society questionnaire submissions first draft due
16 March 2024	Consultation meeting, Brussels
01 May 2024	Civil society final submissions due

Budget and payment schedule

Civil society partners will be able to apply for up to 3000€ per Member State. Individual organisations and consortia are both encouraged to apply. Should more than one organisation or consortia from the same Member State apply with comparable applications, organisations will be encouraged to create one larger consortium to split the funding and the work for the project. It will not be possible to fund more than one project per country.

Payments will be made in two tranches based on deliverables.

Financial reporting or documentation will not be required, but funding must be treated as project-specific in partners’ accounts, and all money must be spent on the project (e.g. not added to reserves). ILGA-Europe retains auditing rights, and should ILGA-Europe auditors choose, they may require documentation to support expenses within this project.

Application

Submit the application pack (below) completed, by Monday, 4 December 2023 at 12:00 PM (noon) CET) to cianan@ilga-europe.org

Intersex people’s rights, legal gender recognition without abusive requirements, the exploration of non-binary markers and bans on conversion practices are at the centre of the first-ever general policy recommendation focusing on LGBTI people’s rights to come from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, which is part of the Council of Europe. Keep reading to discover how this will help protect and improve the lives of LGBTI people, and how queer activists can use it in their work.

Last week, the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) released the first-ever general policy recommendation focusing on LGBTI people’s rights.

Not to be confused with the European Union, the Council of Europe brings even more European countries (46) together. While not being able to adopt any binding legislation for its member states, the Council of Europe has different tools at its disposal to ensure the full protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

One tool are the ECRI General Policy Recommendations (GPR), which carry immense weight in protecting human rights, for example, they are frequently cited by the European Court of Human Rights in its decisions.

The new recommendation GPR No. 17 is the first ever to specifically address the human rights of LGBTI people and will provide an important reference point for its member states and for the Council of Europe institutions. For example example, when designing a new policy or a national strategy, policy-makers in member states will be able to rely on it to ensure that future rules protect and improve the lives of LGBTI people.

What improvements does this recommendation bring compared to previous measures?

This recommendation represents a significant modernisation of the Council of Europe’s toolbox for protecting the rights of LGBTI individuals. Prior to this, the most similar LGBTI-focused instrument is a Committee of Ministers Recommendation from 2010 . However, since then, countries in the region have made a great deal of progress to both clarify how the human rights framework applies to LGBTI people and to enact laws which serve to protect them. Notable differences in this new recommendation compared to other Council of Europe instruments include:

• Protection of intersex people: GPR No. 17 is the first Council of Europe document of its kind which describes how countries should protect intersex individuals and implement the protection ground of sex characteristics. It includes a ban on intersex genital mutilation (IGM), ensuring that medical interventions are not justified by social attitudes, ensuring support to intersex people who have undergone non-consensual interventions, and considering compensation to those who were previously subjected to these interventions.

• Expanded coverage: Unlike the 2010 recommendation, GPR No. 17 also covers individuals who are perceived to be LGBTI and those targeted due to their association with LGBTI people. Grounds coverage includes perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics (SOGISC), but not gender expression.

• Building trust with LGBTI communities: Council of Europe Member States are encouraged to implement trust-building activities with LGBTI communities regarding the reporting and adjudication of anti-LGBTI hate crimes and hate speech.

• Online hate speech: GPR No. 17 encourages treating online hate speech as equivalent to offline hate speech, applying the same laws.

• Assisted reproductive technologies: Recommendations regarding non-discriminatory access to assisted reproductive technologies have been expanded so that member States are encouraged to ensure that there are no policies around these technologies that discriminate on the grounds of SOGISC.

• Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE): GPR No. 17 includes a specific reference to CSE, along with the requirement that it must be evidence-based, reflecting a stronger emphasis on this important aspect.

• Intersectionality: Much more attention is paid to intersectionality, acknowledging the complex and multifaceted nature of discrimination.

• Media: The development of a code of conduct in the media sphere and training for media professionals is recommended.

• Some advancement on Legal Gender Recognition (LGR): GPR No. 17 suggests lower or no age limits for LGR, compensation for those subjected to sterilisation requirements, consideration of non-binary gender markers, and creating a clear pathway for non-nationals to access LGR.

• Ban on ‘conversion practices’ for children and adults, including through advertising and promotion, as well as bans in professional codes of practice.

• Cross-border recognition for rainbow families: The recommendation promotes cross-border family recognition for rainbow families, ensuring that families are protected beyond national borders.

The release of GPR No. 17 marks a significant milestone in the Council of Europe’s efforts to protect the rights of LGBTI people. Placing a strong focus on the protection of intersex people, legal gender recognition without abusive requirements, the exploration of non-binary markers, the ban of ‘conversion practices’, and more, this landmark recommendation offers clear and useful guidance for policy-makers at the national level, helping them in making more fair societies for all. 

How can activists use this new ECRI recommendation?

GPR No. 17 is valuable for advocacy in that it provides detailed explanations of specific recommendations to Council of Europe countries based on existing Council of Europe standards.

Activists can use the recommendation to support governments as they develop and deliberate new laws and update older laws. It also gives a very clear guide for what the monitoring reviews which ECRI conducts in the Council of Europe will be looking for.

Activists can specifically prepare inputs on the points in GPR No. 17 for both submissions to ECRI in advance of their visits and to prepare for meetings during country visits. ECRI will also use the GPR to formulate the questions they will ask governments during those visits.

Depathologisation, family rights and access to legal gender recognition for minors are among the key steps that national governments must take to advance the rights of trans people, according to a new Council of Europe report.

LGBTI people’s rights, including the concept legal gender recognition (LGR), are adequately protected in many European countries, but there are significant differences, a recent Council of Europe report reveals. 38 countries out of 46 Council of Europe members have LGR procedures in place, out of which nine are based on self-determination. However, in others there are no clear procedures, while some have even rolled back existing protections, leaving trans people at risk of violence and discrimination while their documents do not match their identities.

While the report acknowledges advances in legislation, practices and public attitudes, progress is slow and key actions are needed to depathologise trans people, to protect their relatives from abusive measures, and to ensure access to LGR procedures for minors.

Here are the key findings:

Depahologisation of gender recognition procedures is urgent

Shocking as it may sound, 13 European countries still require the sterilisation of trans people who want to follow an LGR procedure. This is contrary to the European Court of Human Rights case law, as is demanding medical diagnosis, which 26 countries still do. Finally, there is limited progress in ensuring that being trans is not a mental illness, as well as addressing other issues.

Married trans people should not be forced to divorce

In 19 member states, married trans people must divorce if they want to access LGR. Trans people are forced to choose between their marriages and their identities because of this requirement, which also has an adverse impact also on their spouses and children, as they will lose family-based rights.

This said, there are positive developments: in six countries being single is not a requirement to access LGR and in nine others marriage certificates are updated accordingly.

The best interest of the child should come first

LGR is accessible to children and teenagers in 17 Council of Europe member states. The best interest of the child principle should come first when reviewing limits in age, instead of discussions on the maturity of the applicants. When young trans people cannot access LGR, they are at risk of discrimination.

What about non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex people? What about non-nationals?

The Council of Europe encourages member states to learn from each other and to review the necessity of including gender markers in official identity documentation with regard to non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex people. As for making LGR accessible to non-national residents, the European Court’s case law may provide guidance when re-evaluating existing restrictions.

Other important recommendations

In the report, the Council reminds that equal treatment laws should come along with equal policy measures and regular monitoring. Countries who have no anti-discrimination legislation are encouraged to introduce it, marking gender identity and sex characteristics as grounds for aggravating circumstances.

Read the full report here.

Open Letter to the European Council regarding the EU’s strategic agenda for 2019-2024: Strong fundamental rights framework must be part of the next strategic agenda for the EU

Prior to EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels on 21-22 June, ILGA-Europe call on the European Council to include a strong and explicit commitment to the protection of the rule of law and fundamental rights in the strategic agenda 2019-2024 with this open letter:

On 20-21 June, EU leaders will meet in Brussels to adopt the EU’s strategic agenda for 2019-2024, which will be used to plan the work of the European Council as well as provide the basis for the work programmes of the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The adoption of the strategic agenda is a key moment for the EU to reaffirm in strong terms its commitment to defending rule of law in the EU and the fundamental rights and freedoms of its people, and to protecting them from existing risks and emerging threats. However, drafts of the strategic agenda that have been circulating omit any specific mention of the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law within the EU, instead focusing on protecting borders and promoting democracy and human rights in the world. This is not enough, considering the challenges to human rights people face within EU borders. As existing laws and policies disappear, countries are moving backwards for the first time in the 10 year history of the Rainbow Map, ILGA-Europe’s annual benchmarking tool ranking 49 countries in Europe on their LGBTI equality laws and policies – resulting in an increasingly unsafe and unsustainable environment for LGBTI organisations and human rights defenders in a growing number of countries.

Challenges to human rights in general, and the human rights of LGBTI people in particular, have increased significantly in the EU.  We see that the rise in populism and hateful and divisive public discourses are having a real impact on the lives of minorities and marginalised communities, including LGBTI people. Marginalised people across the EU feel under increasing pressure, and are experiencing a resurgence of hatred directed against them and their communities. We are observing an increase in the number of reported incidents of LGBTI-phobic hate speech and hate crimes. We are documenting more violations of the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech within the EU. Well-resourced and organised movements are actively working to curtail human rights in Europe and globally, especially with regard to LGBTI human rights and equality, women’s rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), as highlighted by the European Parliament Resolution adopted in February 2019. The intensely hostile and violent climate these groups create have a real impact, turning back time when it comes to the achievements on women’s rights and LGBTI rights, as well as regarding the safety and freedoms of civil society.

In this context, we need the EU to ensure the fundamental rights of people living in Europe. EU institutions have a duty to act to ensure that the values set out in the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights are upheld across the Union and for everyone, including LGBTI people. This is the call made by the European Parliament as well as 19 Member States, in their respective Resolution and Joint Non-Paper calling for adoption of a comprehensive strategy to address discrimination and hatred against LGBTI people.

ILGA-Europe thus call on the European Council to include a strong and explicit commitment to the protection of the rule of law and fundamental rights in the strategic agenda 2019-2024, including a specific EU Strategy on LGBTI human rights and equality as well as a strong strategy on gender equality, as called for by a clear majority of Member States and the European Parliament. “Promoting the interests of our citizens” and “protecting citizens and freedoms” as the draft agenda states, can only be done if the EU institutions make concrete and clear commitments to working on protecting and advancing fundamental rights for all over the next five years.

We remain at your disposal to provide any further information that may be required.

Agreed unanimously by the 47 Council of Europe member states, it was the first and only agreement between governments to combat discrimination against LGBT people in Europe. Although not legally binding, it was based solidly on existing legally binding international and European human rights obligations. Member states therefore have a clear duty to implement its measures. It has been widely used by states and civil society alike in an effort to improve the lives of LGBT people in Europe.

It was also agreed to review the implementation progress of member states on a regular basis. The first review of the implementation took place in 2013, the second in 2018. The reviews are a crucial movement to assess progress made, but also to identify gaps in implementation that need to be tackled more comprehensively. The reviews are not only an important reminder for member states, but also inform the work of the Council of Europe in supporting the protection of LGBTI rights through its work.

Second Review of the Council of Europe Recommendation on LGBT Rights 2018

Between March and July 2018, ILGA-Europe and Transgender Europe (TGEU) supported 11 LGBTQI and 5 trans organisations in preparing country reports on 16 member states (Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden). 

Since the Recommendation was adopted in 2010, there have been significant gains in the Council of Europe region that secured legal rights for LGBTQI people. However, the work on LGBTQI equality is nowhere near done. Worrisome backlash, a rhetoric of hate, populism, nationalism, and state-led persecution in a number of member states remind us that efforts to combat violence and discrimination on grounds of SOGIESC must be reaffirmed, continued, and strengthened.

This assessment will help guide the Council’s work in supporting member states regarding implementation. The submitting organisations welcome that during this second review, the Council extended the invitation for civil society organisations and national human rights structures (NHRSs) to also submit reports.

Nine European umbrella civil society organisations – including ILGA-Europe – have written to Thorbjorn Jagland (CoE Secretary General) on why the Istanbul Convention is still so important. 

Our organisations all believe that the Istanbul Convention can bring change and have a real impact on the lives of women and girls in Europe.

On behalf of the hundreds of millions of citizens, and in particular, women and girls, represented through our nine European umbrella civil society organisations, we are writing to thank the Council of Europe for its great work and achievements in relation to preventing and fighting against gender-based violence.

We have no doubt that the CoE will continue to demonstrate leadership towards protecting all women from gender-based violence and to encourage all the CoE Member States to ratify the Convention and to fully implement it.

We look forward to continue working with the CoE towards a continent free from gender-based violence where all women feel safe and empowered.

Read the letter to Thorbjorn Jagland in full here. 

---

Signed by:

• Amnesty International
• Center for Reproductive Rights
• The European Humanist Federation
• ILGA-Europe – the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
• The European Women’s Lobby
• The International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network
• Organisation Intersex International Europe
• The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants
• Transgender Europe

cc: Michele Nicoletti, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovi?, Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Feride Acar, President of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, and Snežana Samardži?-Markovi?, Director General of DG Democracy.

---

Update:

• Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) sent an email to the CoE Secretary General, in support of the Istanbul Convention, signed by 1166 NGOs! 

Deadline for applications: 5 February 2018, 18:00 CET/this call is closed.

ILGA-Europe is announcing a call for proposals to support the second round of review of the implementation of the Council of Europe Recommendation on LGBT Rights CM (2010)5. 

The recommendations, adopted in 2010, were first reviewed in 2013, and in 2018/19 a second round of the review will be organised by the Council of Europe.

---

The scope of the call is:

• to contribute to the effective monitoring of the implementation of the Recommendation (2010)5 by member states
• to increase the capacity of LGBTI organisations to carry out evidence-based advocacy in Europe, particularly in relation to the implementation of the Recommendation (2010)5.

Under this call for proposals, grants will be made to organisations working at national level either on their own or in partnership to carry out two key activities:

i. Documentation of the extent to which the Recommendation’s measures remain to be implemented in individual member states – to take place in the first half of 2018. The documentation will be based on a questionnaire that the Council of Europe will send to member states and a methodology developed on the basis of this approach; the timetable is determined to feed into the official review process of the Council of Europe.

ii. Advocacy aimed at ensuring that member states engage meaningful in the review and throughout the process consult with civil society organisations, also around next steps on how to fill implementation gaps thus identified

---

The proposed grant should help organisations to dialogue with their governments on the assessment of the current state of implementation of the Recommendation, as well as ensure that grantees will provide country reports based on their documentation to the Council of Europe, while ILGA-Europe will provide a summary of the overall position.

The timeframe of this grant is very tight, as member states will receive the questionnaire to Review the Recommendation only in early February and will have until end of June to answer to the Council of Europe. This is the window of opportunity for national level organisations to engage with their governments to ensure they are engaging in this process, answer the questionnaire and to ensure that they do so in a meaningful way. The review process offers an opportunity to work with your governments, asking for a meeting to assess implementation together and engage them in a process of identifying next steps that can be taken to improve implementation.

The grants seek to ensure the review process can add value to your national level advocacy work. In this sense, a key gap in implementation (for example trans rights or recognition of same-sex couples and Rainbow families) could be identified and made the focus of your engagement in the review process.

ILGA Europe will provide grantees with the documentation methodology, based on the official questionnaire the Council of Europe will send to member states. [1] ILGA-Europe will also provide ongoing advocacy advice and support, particularly in relation to dialogue with national authorities.

---

• For further details of the project, please see the Guidelines and a Guide to the Committee of Ministers Recommendation.
• You can also find the ILGA-Europe/ TGEU report for the first round of Review, as well as the country reports here.

---

Grants under this Call for Proposals “Implementing the Council of Europe Recommendation on LGBT Rights” are funded by the Dutch Government.

Target countries, grants available and eligible organisations

Up to 7 grants will be awarded within this call, with not more than one per country.

All qualifying applications from Council of Europe member states will be considered.[2]  It will be important for applicants to demonstrate clearly the relevance of the project to the needs of the LGBTI community and the added value for the national advocacy work on the protection of LGBTI rights.

Grants will be for sums of up to €5,000.

Applicants should be LGBTI organisations, or LGBTI groups within a larger organisation. They should be officially registered with local authorities, or, in countries where there are no registered LGBT NGOs, unregistered initiative groups.

---

Expertise

Where possible in such a short time frame, applicants are encouraged to consider cooperating with other organisations within the LGBTI community in the framework of this grant.

While one organisation will be the lead grantee, cooperation and alliances with other partners will considered an asset. This may be particularly important in the case of expertise in relation to transgender and intersex issues, which applicants will be required to demonstrate.

It will be acceptable and encouraged for applicants to form a partnership with an academic or research institution, but a LGBTI organisation needs to be leading the project.

---

Conditions

Successful applicants will be required to accept the following conditions:

• The documentation methodology outlined in the attached Guidelines must be followed precisely, in order to permit comparability with evidence from other countries.

• The report must be delivered to ILGA-Europe by 1 July 2018, in order to ensure it can feed into the drafting process of the Council of Europe’s review report. This deadline will also allow for a report review, as well as the preparation of a European level summary report by ILGA-Europe, in time for submission to the Council of Europe (November 2018).

• The report must be prepared in English and where relevant also in the national language.

---

This call is closed

---

[1] The questionnaire is currently being finalised and can thus not be shared yet.

[2] Applications in respect of Belarus and Kosovo are not eligible under this Call, as these countries are not Council of Europe member states.

Agreed unanimously by the 47 Council of Europe member states, it was the first and only agreement between governments to combat discrimination against LGBT people in Europe. Although not legally binding, it was based solidly on existing legally binding international and European human rights obligations. Member states therefore have a clear duty to implement its measures. It has been widely used by states and civil society alike in an effort to improve the lives of LGBT people in Europe.

It was also agreed to review the implementation progress of member states on a regular basis. The first review of the implementation took place in 2013, the second in 2018. The reviews are a crucial movement to assess progress made, but also to identify gaps in implementation that need to be tackled more comprehensively. The reviews are not only an important reminder for member states, but also inform the work of the Council of Europe in supporting the protection of LGBTI rights through its work.

First Review of the Council of Europe Recommendation on LGBT Rights 2013

At the time of the first review, civil society organisation had not been officially invited to submit to contribute to the review, but nevertheless many did.   

ILGA-Europe supported LGBTI organisations in 16 Council of Europe member states in preparing implementation reports. The countries involved are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine. Find all the country reports to the right.

The overall assessment was that while there were signs of actions towards implementation in five countries starting to be taken(Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal and Serbia), in 11 countries, little or no action had been taken to implement the Recommendation. ILGA-Europe therefore issued a strong call for substantive efforts by all member states to implement the Recommendation, and for the Council of Europe to increase its support to member states for this purpose. 

Human Rights and Gender Identity: Best Practice Catalogue is a civil society follow-up to the pioneering work of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, and his 2009 Issue Paper entitled Human Rights and Gender Identity.