The ambition is right, but the reality is very different, says leading European LGBTI rights organisation

Reporting from country after country provides a glaring clarification that progress which has been taken for granted is not only increasingly fragile, but particularly vulnerable […]

After an extraordinary year, Europe has been awoken to the acute fragility of the human rights situation for LGBTI people across the region, says ILGA-Europe.

Europe’s leading LGBTI+ rights organisation, ILGA-Europe are alarmed to observe that in the past week the Turkish government has stepped up its systematic attacks on and defamation of LGBTI+ people and calls on President Erdo?an to guarantee the fundamental rights of all minorities without discrimination, as enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

For Russian LGBTI groups, along with the rest of the civil society in the country, 2021 started with the arrival of new barriers to their work.

The trial of three women accused of “offending religious beliefs” will take place, tomorrow on January 13 in Plock, Poland. The activists face up to two years in prison for disseminating posters of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo symbolic of the LGBTI flag. Six international human rights NGOs are calling for all charges to be dropped, and for the Polish authorities to amend their legislation and bring it in line with international and regional human rights standards. 

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic went global, we worried that equality would slip off EU agendas as lockdowns and an unprecedented economic crisis […]

The Turkish courts’ postponement until next April of the trial of 19 people accused of “unlawful assembly” after taking part in an LGBTI Pride march last year is clearly infringing their right to a fair trial, and sending a worrying signal from the judiciary, says ILGA-Europe.

Turkey must uphold its domestic and international commitments, and dismiss all charges against 19 human rights defenders, prosecuted for their participation in a peaceful Pride march at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in May 2019, says Europe’s largest LGBTI rights umbrella organisation, ILGA-Europe.

We, the undersigned human rights organisations, believe that the only just outcome in the unfair prosecution of 19 human rights defenders for their participation in a peaceful Pride march on the campus of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (METU) on 10 May 2019 is their wholesale acquittal at their next hearing on 10 December at 09:00 UTC+3.

18 students and one academic face up to three years imprisonment in Turkey, should a judgement be made against them on December 10. The charges? Participating in a Pride march. Here’s the story so far, and how you can stand up for the METU 19.

NGOs call to drop unfounded charges for peaceful activism.

On the 30th of August, Odesa Pride tried to hold a peaceful gathering on one of the central streets of Odesa, Ukraine. Despite the fact that the group Tradition and Order were issuing threats before the event and came prepared to the gathering, where they acted violently, the authorities failed to prevent the attacks and ensure the freedom of assembly of the Odesa Pride participants.

By the end of 2018, at the age of 25, Yulia Tsvetkova had already made some of herdreams come true: opening a theatre for kids, […]

After nearly 2 years of mounting pressure, things came to a boiling point yesterday, August 7, in Warsaw. A spontaneous protest related to the “preventative detention” of an LGBTI activist, Margot Szutowicz, resulted in 48 arrests and extensive police brutality last night. More protests, and more arrests, are expected today as the repression of LGBTI people goes unabated.

As 300 Pride events, and counting, have been called off across Europe, President of the European Pride Organisers Association, Kristine Garina talks about what this will mean for the LGBTI community, and how we can come together to rise to this critical challenge.

A court in Kyrgyzstan has found in favour of a trans woman after a TV channel illegally filmed her and broadcast the footage, ordering compensation […]

Civil Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Front Line Defenders and International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) call upon Turkish authorities to drop all charges against 19 LGBTI+ rights defenders due to stand trial on 12 November 2019 in Ankara

Open Letter to the European Council regarding the EU’s strategic agenda for 2019-2024: Strong fundamental rights framework must be part of the next strategic agenda for […]