Rainbow Digest December 2022

New EU proposal on parental recognition, landmark European Court decision on LGR, and much more…

 

Help transform realities for LGBTI communities across Europe and Central Asia.With your support we can do more. Make change happen here.

No. 327. December 2022. In this issue…

ILGA-Europe

Education

Equality and non-discrimination

Family

Freedom of expression

Health

Legal gender recognition

Notice board

 

ILGA-Europe

New video on the last 12 months in 7 minutes

Over the past 12 months we have seen huge change for LGBTI people in Europe and Central Asia. It was a year of many challenges for LGBTI communities, but also a year of great victories that came from strong, resilient and passionate activism. We published a video charting the change, the highs and lows of 2022.
Watch our seven-minute video.
 

New briefing report on the challenges faced by young LGBTI people in Europe

On 6 December, ILGA-Europe and IGLYO launched their joint briefing report, deep-diving into the data from the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) 2019 LGBTI Survey II, to further understand the challenges faced by young LGBTI people in Europe today. In this second of our series of Intersections reports, we created sub-populations of respondents aged 15-24, 15-17 and 18-24, and compared them with all respondents to the survey. In coming months, we will publish further in-depth briefings on intersex people, religious and ethnic minorities, older LGBTI people, trans people, and others.
Read more and download your own copy of the report.
 

New podcast: The World Cup ‘one love’ controversy: How the media got it wrong

The big story at the beginning of the World Cup 2022 centred on FIFA banning all players on European teams from wearing the ‘One Love’ armband during matches, highlighting the human rights situation for LGBTI people in Qatar. ILGA-Europe published a new episode of The Frontline podcast that deep-dives into the ‘One Love’ armband controversy and what it means for the LGBTI movement. Our guests are Ryan Heath, Editorial Director with Politico; Gurchaten Sandhu, Director of Programmes at ILGA World, and the Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, Evelyne Paradis.
Listen to the podcast on your favourite platform.

Education

Polish president vetoes discriminatory bill targeting sex education

On 15 December, President Andrzej Duda of Poland vetoed an education reform that threatened sex education, including about sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposed legislation was a revised version of a bill including similar provisions that the president vetoed earlier this year. Civil society organisations had been campaigning against the bill and organising collective letters calling the President to veto it.
Read more.

Equality and non-discrimination

Commissioner warns the UK against regression on human rights

On 9 December, Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights published a report on the United Kingdom. The country visit report has a clear position on the rights LGBTI people, calling for government actors to refrain from harmful discourse against trans and LGBTI people, the government to rebuild trust with LGBTI community, to act to combat anti-trans intolerance, discrimination, and hate crime, to bring legal gender recognition in line with human rights standards, to ensure equal treatment for trans people, and to adopt a trans-inclusive ban of so-called “conversion practices.”
Read more about the report.

New booklet about the repeal of the banned jobs for women in Kazakhstan

After several years of advocacy, in 2021 feminist initiatives in Kazakhstan managed to abolish the list of banned professions for women – a Soviet Union legacy Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries had adopted. They have published a book sharing their experience of fight against this discriminatory practice. The list of banned professions included hundreds of occupations which women could not pursue as a profession. Queer women were at the core of fight in making the case for this advocacy work. Uzbekistan is another Central Asian country that had abolished the similar list. Following Kazakhstan’s success there are now initiatives across the region to terminate this discriminatory practice.

Family

LGBTI organisations welcome EU parental recognition proposal

On 7 December, the European Commission published a proposal for a Council Regulation on recognition of parenthood, which sets out the full recognition of parenthood for cross-border movement within the EU, while ensuring every child’s fundamental rights are fully protected everywhere in the EU. According to ILGA-Europe and NELFA, this is a major step forward for bringing legal security for children in cross-border situations to have their family life protected and having both their parents recognised across the EU. Currently, many children, including children of LGBTI parents, ‘lose one parent’ when crossing a border because of parenthood not being recognised.


Freedom of expression

Uzbekistan plans to adopt an “anti-propaganda” law

On 16 December, the Agency on Information and Mass Media of Uzbekistan published a Draft of the Information Code for public discussions. Article 54 of the Code prohibits abuse of freedom of Mass Media Means. This norm prohibits any “propaganda of unnatural relations between people of same sex”. This restriction is being proposed in addition to already existing criminalisation of consensual sexual conduct between men, for which LGBTI people have been prosecuted and detained.

Health

PReP and ending AIDS by 2030

On World AIDS Day, ILGA-Europe shared a blog post about what governments need to do to make PReP available for all. Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is the ambitious goal set by the United Nations eight years ago, to which EU countries committed along with many others. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a vital component of this plan. The blog lists some key recommendations for governments in order to make PrEP available to everyone who might benefit from it, following the research by UNAIDS and AIDS Action Europe.

Funding for a PhD project on ‘conversion therapy’ in international human rights law

The University of Leicester’s Leicester Law School has a new funding opportunity for a PhD project on ‘conversion therapy’ in international human rights framework. The project aims to identify and chart the rapidly developing international human rights norms and standards that have been recognised as being applicable to conversion therapy. Looking across the various relevant international and regional human rights instruments, the project will set out the relevant standards that have so far been adopted with respect to the practice.

Legal gender recognition

Landmark judgement from the European Court on LGR

On 1 December, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgement in the case of A.D. and others v. Georgia. The Court found a violation of Article 8 (right to respect to private and family life) due to lack of clear framework in domestic legislation governing legal gender recognition procedure (LGR). The Court reiterated that this is in contradiction of states’ positive obligation to provide quick, transparent and accessible procedures for LGR. In light of the judgement, ILGA-Europe called on the Georgian authorities to put in place a clear legal framework allowing for quick, transparent and accessible procedures for LGR in collaboration and coordination with national LGBTI groups.

Notice board

RFSL has funding for trans communities in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine

RFSL, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQI rights, is currently accepting grant applications to support initiatives, groups and organisations, focusing on the unique needs of trans, non-binary and gender-diverse rights movements from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition to funding, grantees are offered capacity strengthening, professional development opportunities, advocacy mentorship and assistance in organisational development. Maximum grant amount for the call is 7300 Euros.
Read more and apply before 8 January.

ILGA World seeks a Human Resources Manager

ILGA World seeks a a Human Resources Manager. Currently, human resources management does not have a dedicated staff person in the organisation but is a shared responsibility of the Senior Management Team. ILGA World is currently introducing a flexible workplace regime – under the new rules this position can be implemented remotely and does not require relocation to Geneva, Switzerland. The position is advertised at 60% of a full-time position.
Read more and apply before 24 January.
Check out other opportunities at ILGA World.

The Council of Europe SOGI Unit is looking for consultancy services

The Council of Europe SOGI Unit has a new call for tenders for consultancy services in the field of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) with expertise in legislative and policy development/reviews, institutional capacity development and/or raising awareness.
Read more and submit your offer by 30 December.

Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community has two new positions

The EL*C- EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community is recruiting for the positions of Grants and Sustainability Manager and Advocacy and Research Officer – both remote work with one year contracts. The Grants and Sustainability Manager will be responsible for managing grants, re-granting programs and funder relationships, including capacity assessment, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and compliance management. The Advocacy and Research Officer will work on advocacy for human rights of lesbians at national, regional and international levels.
Read more and apply by 15 January.

AGE Platform Europe is looking for a Media and Campaigns Officer

AGE Platform Europe, European network of non-profit organisations of and for people aged 50+, is looking for an Media and Campaigns Officer to amplify older people’s voice and increase the outreach of AGE’s age equality storytelling. Using social media, campaigns and other relevant communication channels, the successful candidate will help disseminate AGE’s positions and policy recommendations and contribute to positive progress towards equality in old age.
Read more and apply before 16 January.

HURIDOCS is seeking their next Executive Director

HURIDOCS (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems) is seeking their next Executive Director to lead in shaping the future of the organisation and ensuring that the organisation will deliver on its strategic objectives. This is a full-time position, with location preference in Geneva. HURIDOCS operates a small office from Geneva but the majority of team members are working entirely remotely.
Read more and apply before 6 January.

Funding opportunity to support strategic litigation projects on digital rights

The Digital Freedom Fund opened its call for funding to support strategic litigation on digital rights in Europe that contributes to advancing human rights in the digital context. You can submit applications for litigation track support or pre-litigation research. DFF funds not just digital rights organisations, but also provides support to racial, social, economic, gender, LGBTQI+, disability, migrant and environmental justice organisations working on digital rights.
Read more and apply by 28 February.

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