On the 21st of April, 2015 trans activists from Ukraine, Turkey, Ireland, France and Lithuania spoke at the Council of Europe on their battle for human rights. The audience heard their testimonies of what it is to live as a trans person in Europe. Tomas Raskevicius, the national LGBT* rights organization LGL, Lithuania: “Trans people’s
Tag Archive: Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will debate and vote on a resolution on the discrimination of transgender persons in Europe in its spring session (April 20-24, 2015). A related report has been adopted by the Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee on March 20. The Committee denounces human rights violations trans people are exposed
On the 20th January, 2015, the Parliament of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) constitutionally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Furthermore, it created a constitutional hurdle to possible future legislation on same-sex civil unions. The amendment defines that “[m]arriage shall be a life union solely of one woman and
Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, has criticized recent comments in a newspaper interview about homosexuality and society by Latvian President Andris Bērziņš, the LETA newswire reported on January 12, 2014. “Latvia, along with other Council of Europe Member States, is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees
The Council of Europe has warned Lithuania over its failure to adopt laws that would allow gender reassignment surgeries. This week the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which monitors the implementation of rulings of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, applied the so-called “enhanced supervision procedure” for Lithuania. The decision was taken after all earlier
On February 28th Robert Biedroń participated in a press conference at the Lithuanian parliament. R. Biedroń is the general rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). “European Council is seeing discrimination of LGBT persons in Lithuania” Read more
Parliamentarian Petras Gražulis horrified his European colleagues and made Lithuanians feel embarrassed. While attending the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the first time, he started openly praising Russia’s law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors. As journalists announced, P. Gražulis was encouraging all European countries to follow the Russian example.
The Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination unanimously appointed Mr Biedron as General rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people at its meeting in Madrid on 17 September 2013. Mr Biedron replaces Mr Håkon Haugli who was the first holder of this mandate. The General rapporteur on LGBT rights has the responsibility to intervene in the
Group of members in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have criticized several legislative initiatives as homophobic and allegedly infringing upon fundamental freedoms of LGBT* people as well as promoting discrimination. The Lithuanian Parliament is to consider four homophobic or transphobic legislative initiatives in its autumn session: a total ban on gender
The DELFI news portal is reporting that Petras Grazulis, the colorful and leading opponent against LGBT rights in Lithuania, will join the country’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, one of the continent’s principle organizations defending human rights in 47 countries, in January, 2014. Grazulis has apparently signed a pledge to