First day of ILGA-Europe's Annual Conference in Vilnius
While the 11th Annual Conference of ILGA-Europe started in Vilnius on Thursday, 24 October, a lot of activities started a day before, on Wednesday, when many delegates from all over Europe started to arrive to Vilnius and the first press conference was organised.
The press conference was well attended by the local media. Generally speaking there is a considerable interest about the conference in Lithuania and we have already 21 journalists accredited for the conference. And the interest is not just from the Lithuanian media, we also have a BBC, Radio France Internationalle and one of the major Russian radio stations “Echo of Moscow” journalists accredited for the conference.
The first day of the conference began with a plenary session which traditionally deals with various logistic and organisational issues. During this plenary the Executive Board of ILGA-Europe delivered a report on activities and finances of the organisation and the Co-Chairs of the Executive Board delivered their political speech highlighting the current state for the rights of LGBT people in Europe and plans for further actions at European level.
A panel with a title “LGBT Rights in Europe: How European Institutions can take responsibilities for the recognition and respect of human rights of LGBT people” took place on Thursday afternoon. The following keynote speakers took part on this panel:
- Gesa Boeckermann, European Commission, Anti-Discrimination Unit of DG Employment, Equality and Social Affairs;
- Anastasia Crickley, OSCE and Fundamental Rights Agency, Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions, and Chairperson of Fundamental Rights Agency;
- Michael Cashman, MEP, European Parliament , Chairperson of European Parliament LGBT Inter Group;
During the presentations, the speakers explored the ways in which the European institutions could do more to protect the rights of LGBT people. One of the main topics of the discussion was a proposal for a new EU directive which would introduce a ban on discrimination because of sexual orientation in areas other than employment. Such a proposal is included in the European Commission’s legislative plan for the next year. At the same time there is awareness that the adoption of such a directive might face some opposition and difficulties at the European Council level, additionally it is expected that some EU member states might express their objections.
There were a number of interesting and well attended workshops hosted on Thursday covering a variety of issues:
- Work of Lithuanian non-governmental organisations towards equality for LGBT people;
- What the mental health needs for LGBT people are and how to develop strategies to address these issues;
- Inclusion of transgender issues on organisations’ strategies;
- Developing ILGA-Europe’s Strategic Plan for 2008-2011;
- Reacting to the religious right;
- Making trade unions LGBT friendly.
High media interest in the conference is partly explained by the fact that the Mayor of Vilnius banned public events by local LGBT organisation for the second time in one year. There were also speculations and slight nervousness as some expected that the anti-gay activists will organise a protest activities outside the conference venue during the Thursday Rainbow Flag Reception. This Reception was an alternative to a public flag display event inside the conference hotel. But fortunately there were no protesting activities outside the hotel last night and all the smokers taking part in the conference could peacefully enjoy their cigarettes by the main hotel entrance (smoking inside public buildings, including the hotels, is now banned in Lithuania). Because of the speculations, the police were informed about possible disturbances and we could see the police car patrolling the area around the hotel regularly. Also a private security company was hired to make sure that only participants are able to enter the hotel.
Just before the reception, the Lithuanian activists displayed their 30 meter-long rainbow flag around the main hotel hall where all conference plenary sessions and panels are taking place. The reception was addressed by Oskaras Jusys, Lithuanian Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He pointed out that while Lithuania has most of laws in order, there is still a huge gap in the social development and as a result of 50 years of Soviet occupation it will take a while before the country reaches the same level of acceptance and tolerance as in Western Europe. This followed by a passionate and touching presentation by Austrine Marija Pavilioniene, a member of the Lithuanian Parliament. She is known in the country for standing up for the rights of LGBT people and left her liberal-democratic party a few months ago because of the homophobic stance her party had. The next speech was delivered by Johan Tiedenamm, Swedish State Secretary. He expressed his country’s commitment to defend LGBT rights not only in his home country, but all across Europe and world. He also presented a short greeting video message from Tobias Billstrom, Sweden’s Minister for Immigration and Asylum. The Rainbow Flag reception was concluded by a speech by Michael Cashman, whose main point was on family values and that family has different faces and models and that working together we can make a difference.
