Panel 1: European Policies on the Human Rights of LGBT People: Successes Achieved and Challenges Ahead
Watch the videos and find summary report from our first panel: European Policies on the Human Rights of LGBT People: Successes Achieved and Challenges Ahead
Dr Francis Agius
Member of the Maltese Parliament, Head of the Maltese Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
In 1949, as a result of the destruction and devastation of two World Wars, in a remarkable and unprecedented event, the Council of Europe was created. The countries of Europe chose to change their basis for interactions from “might makes right”, as had been the rule for centuries, to cooperation based on three core values: human rights, democracy and the rule of law. This year, the Council of Europe celebrated is 60th anniversary by reflecting on past achievements and discussing the future direction of the organization in its work towards a more humane, democratic and stable Europe.
Today, after a number of political milestones, the Council has grown to include 47 members states that are home to 800 000 000 people. Not only has the Council developed in size, but the understanding of the three core values has also evolved over time.
The Council of Europe is a catalyst for change, but also must respond to changes in society. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe communicates directly with citizens and takes the lead in addressing difficult or contentious topics, including LGBT issues. It has made important groundbreaking recommendations, accompanied by extensively researched background reports, that raise awareness and combat intolerance, including the 1981 Recommendation addressing Decriminalization of LGBT and the 1989 Recommendation addressing Transsexual issues. Four more recommendations have been made over the last nine years that combat discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
To be effective, the Council needs to focus and prioritize. LGBT issues remain on the agenda because they help to focus attention on the ideal of human rights as universal and indivisible. The way we treat minorities is a test of how truly we are committed to our values.
The Council of Europe has no hard powers—no army, no sanctions—but instead makes use of soft powers engaging in debate, persuasion and consensus building. There are those who imagine a continent without dividing lines, we also imagine our societies without dividing lines and, like President Obama, choose the politics of hope.
Ulrike Lunacek
Member of the European Parliament, GREENS, Austria, co-president if the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Although the newly elected European Parliament has a greater number of centre-right and extreme-right members, as well as a greater number of members who have not managed to find any group, Ms Lunacek feels hope in her new roles as Member of the European Parliament and Co-President if the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights, that positive change can be achieved.
When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and comes into effect, it will be clear that discrimination against LGBT is illegal.
The reports on LGBT issues prepared by the Fundamental Rights Agency, which deal with the legal situation of the LGBT community in Europe and on its social issues were prepared at the request of the European Parliament.
The Intergroup on LGBT Rights
An Intergroup in the European Parliament is an informal forum where MEPs come together to discuss a certain issue. At the present time, the Intergroup has representatives from the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Greens and one Conservative, which is led by co-presidents Ulrike Lunacek and Michael Cashman. They work to raise awareness around two main issues—LGBT Rights and LGBT Visibility. Their goals are to persuade their colleagues that the issue of LGBT rights is not about granting special or separate rights to LGBT people, but about ensuring equal legal and human rights for everybody and to show by example that visibility on the part of the LGBT community can help to change the hearts and minds those who have not yet realized that LGBT people demand and merit the same rights as everyone else.
The work of the Intergroup has shown that lobbying can be effective even with MEPs from the centre-right and extreme-right in asking them to challenge HR violations and to vote according to their own conscience and not simply to adhere to the party line.
Thanks to the ILGA-Europe’s Be Bothered campaign, 20% of elected MEPs that have signed the pledge to support LGBT issues. The Intergroup will contact these MEPs and remind them that we are counting on their support.
The Intergroup has written a Resolution condemning the new Lithuanian Law that prohibits reaching out to young people with information about LGBT, and they asked the Fundamental Rights Agency to give an Opinion about it as well. This is an example of a situation where the EU is more progressive than one of its member nations, and the member nation reacts to this by saying that the EU is infringing on national law and the private lives of the citizens of that nation, that the EU is taking a top-down approach to LGBT issues demanding the national governments act in accordance with EU values. To this the Intergroup replies that yes, we are a top down organization, but one that could only have come about because of local activism across Europe. The visibility of LGBT activists empowers MEPs to speak out in public and encourage national parliaments to fulfil their role in ensuring human dignity and social justice and to counter the social myopia that. Family Law is left up to each member state to regulate, so movement on the issue of same-sex marriage will still be a long time coming.
The Intergroup also seeks to coordinate MEPs to achieve real results in Europe and abroad by raising LGBT issues and asking politicians outside of Europe to bring these issues to the table in places such as Zimbabwe and the Middle East, because LGBT issues are human rights and as such universal and indivisible.
In the future there will be more on Transgender and Intersex issues; a meeting on issues surrounding Lesbian and Gay Police takes place in Vienna soon.
Belinda Pyke
European Commission, Director of Equality Between Men/Women, Action Against Discrimination, Civil Society Directorate of Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.
The Lisbon treaty will soon be ratified. The discussion regarding protection from discrimination that was laid out in Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty has been developed and the new version is in Article 19 of the Lisbon treaty.
Article 10 of the Lisbon Treaty regarding equality mainstreaming requires EU committees to accept the responsibility for applying anti-discrimination laws when implementing other policies. This finally gives us a legal base to advance equality mainstreaming on LGBT issues.
The Equality Summit will take place in Stockholm, Sweden on 16-17 November.
The directive is to gain a clearer understanding of the way forward in not compromising on the grounds of discrimination. One topic of discussion is to be equality mainstreaming through the use of mechanisms that build non-discrimination clauses into all EU policies. Special emphasis is placed on LGBT rights and Roma rights.
The New EuroBarometer will soon be published. The results on LGBT issues are likely to remain unchanged from the last publication. 27000 people think that second biggest reason for discrimination is on the basis of sexual orientation.
There is a Proposal for the Council of Ministers on the table from July, 2008—a Directive to Ban Discrimination outside the Workplace on the Grounds of Sexual Orientation. The grounds and scope of this directive have been endorsed by the European Parliament. For this Directive to pass, unanimity in the Council is required. There is a difficult discussion about the language of the directive and the need for the directive to propose positive actions.
The French presidency developed a momentum on LGBT issues and the current Swedish presidency has maintained it and is taking a positive approach to working through the technical and language problems. If these issues are not resolved to a stage where member states do not feel the need to veto, completion of work on this Directive may pass on to the Spanish presidency and then to the Belgian presidency.
Enforce the Directive from 2000 working closely with the Equality Bodies of the Member States and with NGOs. The Law is important, but it is not enough on its own. There must be a general policy of communication on non-discrimination, fighting prejudice and stereotypes, Equality Mainstreaming to ensure this policy becomes a part of other policies; positive action; and data collection.
What happens next year?
Exchange of best practice among Member States. Many officials don’t have experience in dealing with discrimination against transsexuals. For example, after yesterday’s Trans Rights Conference, it is clear that the various institutions need to coordinate better their work to ensure that they do nit replicate it but rather making complimentary. Similarly, in the meeting of the national focal points it was clear that cooperation efforts and knowledge sharing are very important in creating LGBT aware and proactive Member State administrations.
Knowledge sharing as a strategy may sound pathetically modest, but it is absolutely vital.
The European Commission values its partnership with ILGA-Europe and is glad to co-finance this Congress. Good cooperation with NGOs across Europe is necessary and cooperation with the European Parliament is also precious.
