What is ILGA-Europe's position?
ILGA-Europe welcomes the EU Commission’s proposal for a single anti-discrimination directive, when adopted, will end the hierarchy of rights and protections in the EU.
After having been campaigning for a single anti-discrimination directive for many years, ILGA-Europe welcomes the fact that the scope of the proposed directive is identical to the scope of the EU directives protecting against discrimination on the grounds of race. Currently, discrimination on the ground of race enjoys the highest protection in EU legislation compared to other grounds of discrimination, such as gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief. ILGA-Europe is particularly pleased to see that the proposed directive covers such areas as education. We also welcome the proposal to introduce Equality Bodies in all EU member states which would have a mandate to work on all grounds of discrimination.
At the same time, ILGA-Europe is committed to improving the Commission’s legislative proposal by ensuring that it is fully consistent with the principle of non-discrimination. In particular, ILGA-Europe is concerned with the fact that the proposed directive provides exceptions around marital and family status and reproductive rights. Such exceptions create ambiguity and lead to a lack of clarity, and could be interpreted in a way that would lead to the continuation of less favourable treatment for people on the basis of their sexual orientation in accessing social protection, goods and services. Discrimination and consequent disadvantages experienced by LGB families and their children were particularly highlighted as a serious cause for concern in a report published by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on 30 June 2008.
In relation to the overall leveling up of protection against all forms of discrimination, ILGA-Europe also calls for a commitment to level up the gender equality legislation at the latest by 2010 to ensure the same legal protection for all grounds of discrimination (currently discrimination on the ground of gender is not prohibited in education) and to include gender identity explicitly in the revised legislation on gender equality.
Relevant documents:
ILGA-EUROPE'S POSITION ON THE PROPOSED DIRECTIVE (OCTOBER 2008)
ILGA-Europe’s Shadow Directive
Discrimination based on sexual orientation - Additional evidence (Dec. 2007)
Case for a Horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive (ILGA-Europe/ENAR)
Useful links:
More information on the position of organisations working on other grounds of discrimination is available on the following Websites:
ILGA-Europe's Annaul Conference Declaration (Germany)
This declaration was adopted by the delegates to the 12th Annual Conference of ILGA-Europe during the final plenary session of the conference on 2 November 2008 in Vienna, Austria. The conference brought together over 220 representatives from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations from 37 countries.
