As Europe heads towards multiple elections, including the EU elections next month, LGBTI rights have become a marker for the protection of freedom and democracy amid the rise of far-right forces, new Rainbow Map finds.
Published by Europe’s leading LGBTI organisation, ILGA-Europe, the 16th annual Rainbow Map, which ranks 49 European countries on legislative developments in the arena of LGBTI human rights, shows that while authoritarian leaders across Europe continue to use the scapegoating of LGBTI people to divide and mobilise their electorates, others are conversely showing robust political will to honour commitments to advancing and protecting the human rights of LGBTI people.
At a time when some Italian regions are withdrawing parenthood rights from same-sex couples, when efforts are being made to rewrite guidelines to limit access to trans-specific healthcare in Slovakia, Croatia, France and the UK, and when we are witnessing Russia’s unprecedented move of criminalising the ‘international LGBTI movement’ as an ‘extremist organisation’, the findings of this year’s Rainbow Map make it more clear than ever that only legal protections can ensure that fundamental rights are guaranteed.
The Rainbow Map is published just one day after the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights LGBTIQ Survey III report, which finds that over two thirds of respondents encountered hate statements, and a significant increase in violence since the last survey in 2019.
According to ILGA-Europe’s Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel: “Across Europe, LGBTI people are being targeted by hate speech and violence and their human rights are being actively undermined, yet we still see too many countries across the region stalling in moving legal protection forward and not renewing their commitments through national strategies and action plans. This non-action is dangerous, as without proper legislation in place to protect minorities, including LGBTI people, it will be much too easy for newly elected governments to quickly undermine human rights and democracy.”
The Rainbow Map shows some governments stepping up to the mark in the understanding of this. In a year of 30-plus elections across the region, including the EU Elections next month, the Map illustrates a strong political will to advance the protection of LGBTI human rights in several countries.
Germany, Iceland, Estonia, Liechtenstein and Greece all made some of the biggest jumps in the Rainbow Map ranking. Both Estonia and Greece amended their laws to allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt children, Greece also filled the gaps in its anti-discrimination legislation to fully protect LGBTI people, and Liechtenstein extended adoption rights to same-sex couples.
Countries are also working hard to put crime measures in place that recognise anti-LGBTI hatred as an aggravating factor. Germany, which made the largest jump in the ranking this year, prohibited hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics. Other countries legislating against hate crime include Bulgaria, Iceland (which has jumped to No’2 in the ranking) and Slovenia. Bans on conversion practices, which also perpetrate violence against LGBTI people, were introduced in Belgium, Cyprus, Iceland, Norway and Portugal.
But others, such as Italy, which has dropped two places in the rankings due to stalling legislative protection for many years, show what can happen when legislation is not in place and far-right governments take power.
Most EU accession countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine) are falling behind in their commitments, stalling the introduction of legislation and thus putting their citizens more and more at risk of real backlash and the undermining of fundamental rights. Turkey and Georgia, also accession candidates, are actively eroding human rights and fundamental freedoms, including efforts to pass new legislation particularly targeting LGBTI people. Georgia, one the most recent accession countries, has been cracking down on pro-EU protests against its proposed ‘foreign agents’ law, which comes directly from the Russian anti-LGBTI playbook.
According to the Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, Chaber: “The EU needs to pay close attention not only to the rise of political hate speech against LGBTI people, but also to new tools of oppression, like Russia’s criminalisation of a whole segment of the country’s population. The efforts at division and distraction from consolidated authoritarian regimes are further leaking into other European countries at a time where elections could push Europe into the hands of leaders who wish to shape a radical right, anti-democratic European Union. Europe needs stronger laws and policies to protect LGBTI people. Without these, we cannot talk about safety or about rule of law and democracy.”
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