Get involved with ILGA-Europe’s plans for Pride season!

Join in with our PrideWatch social media campaign this summer. 

Freedom of assembly is vital – for all of us

In many towns and cities, Pride marches take place every summer, without disruption. However, the overall picture in Europe, both inside and outside the EU’s borders, is quite complex. The freedom of LGBTI activists to organise, gather and celebrate publicly is limited in some European countries.

Pride marches have always been a visible symbol of fundamental human rights and an indicator of how well democracy is functioning. 

So, that is why ILGA-Europe will be keeping a close eye on how Prides are operating in 2018.

We will be talking to Pride organisers, participating in marches and reporting back on what we see and hear – sharing it all with you as part of the PrideWatch campaign. 

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Colleagues from our staff team or board members will be representing ILGA-Europe at lots of Pride events this summer. We’ll confirm soon where we will be attending, but 2017’s list looked like this:

• Sofia – 10 June
• Skopje – 23/26 June
• Istanbul – 25 June
• Madrid (World Pride) – 1 July
• Budapest – 8 July
• Tallinn (Baltic Pride) – 8 July
• Belgrade – 15-17 September (march will take place on 17 September)
• Podgorica –  23 September

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How can you get involved in PrideWatch?

• Support your local Pride events. 
• If you can’t attend a Pride, why not send messages of support and solidarity to your fellow LGBTI activists and allies?
• Follow what’s happening on the ground with the hashtag #PrideWatch
• Tell us what Pride means to you, by joining the #PrideWatch conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

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Ban on Belgrade Pride marches

(Application nos. 5591/10 17802/12 23138/13 25474/14), 17 November 2014 

Find Court’s communication here.

• This group of cases relate to the banning of the 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Belgrade Pride marches, because of the possible danger of violent counterdemonstrations. The applicants complained of State’s failure to protect their freedom of assembly due to discriminatory intent on the part of the state authorities based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the applicants and potential participants in the Parade. 
• ILGA-Europe together with the International Commission of Jurists submitted the following:
  • States should be afforded a narrow discretion in relation to the means used or measures to be taken in preventing violence or disorder, particularly where the threat of violence or intimidation comes primarily from counter-demonstrators; can reasonably be anticipated; and is directed at groups most at risk.
  • States must put in place an adequate legislative and administrative framework to guarantee and facilitate the right to freedom of assembly.

This toolkit is intended to provide ideas and information resources for those wanting to organise Pride events in a hostile environment. The need for it has been made clear by the intense hostility faced by many Pride organisers in Central and Eastern Europe.

In drawing heavily on their experiences and successes, and matching this input with information on support available from the European institutions and the LGBT community internationally, it aims to underpin the consolidation of progress made so far, and provide the initial know-how for those wishing to arrange events in countries and towns where no Pride events have yet been held.

The struggle to achieve freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people across Central and Eastern Europe presents enormous challenges, excitement and exhilaration. Hatred and the ever present threat of violence have to be met with great courage and commitment. The photographs included in the toolkit (and provided so willingly by the many photographers) capture the spirit of these important events, honour those who have taken part in them, and will, we hope, inspire many more to take up the cause.

This Handbook, published in June 2006, has been designed for people and organisations who are thinking of monitoring human rights abuses occurring during Pride marches. The human rights monitoring technique described here is the observation of marches by independent observers.

The Handbook looks at different aspects of observing Pride marches. It explains briefly the principles of human rights monitoring. It lists relevant human rights instruments which can be invoked when a Pride march is banned or violent. Then it gives some practical advice and tools on human rights monitoring through observation of Pride marches. Once the factual information is collected it is important to gather the information in a report and to send it to the relevant human rights organisation. Information is given on organisations that monitor the implementation of human rights standards and how to approach them. Finally it looks into the possibility of taking cases before courts at national and international level and the challenges attached to this approach.

This Handbook is available in English, Russian and Croatian.