Speech on EU actions persecution of LGBT persons in Europe

30/07/08

 

I am pleased to be able to take part in this seminar discussing my views on how the EU acts on the persecution of LGBT persons in Europe.

 

I believe that events like this help to raise the profile of the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender communities across Europe. A topic that is very alive within both the Commission and the European parliament, not in the least in the intergroup on Lesbians Gay Bi and Transsexuals where I am a member.

 

Please allow me to begin with a personal comment. Throughout my
working life, in which I have occupied a very wide variety of posts I have always considered it my duty to respect the equality and dignity of all people, irrespective of their sexual orientation, and to see to it that they are respected. It is a question of solidarity.

 

Actually, I have always taken the view that respect for the rights of persons,
regardless of their sexual orientation, is one of the main criteria for respect for?
human rights in general. That is why I also take an active part in the intergroup in the European Parliament on issues concerning Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transsexuals.

I am pleased to have this discussion here today and I can note that Europe has come a long way in a global comparison. In most European countries homosexuality no longer is considered to be something deviant that has to be repressed. 

 

Despite the progress achieved in combating discrimination, the situation
is far from ideal. Most often it is a case of individuals discriminating against other
individuals but unfortunately certain political statements reveal institutionalised
discrimination.

And what happened here in Stockholm just close to the Park where the Pride Festival takes place shows that hate crime is far too common also in Sweden.

 

In 2004, ten new Member States from central and eastern Europe plus Malta and Cyprus joined the European Union and, as a result, accepted the acquis communautaire, in other words all the texts adopted since the beginning of European integration, including the legislation that I have just mentioned. This is true also for Rumania and Bulgaria that joined in 2007.

This has proved to be a welcome change for the union but also a challenge. As many of the new member states have shorter traditions in human and democratic rights, this is also shown in the attitudes concerning sexual orientation.

 

Even within the borders of Europe homophobia harms our fellow citizens. Pride and Equality marches which are meant to be peaceful celebrations, invoking the core European principles of tolerance and appreciation of diversity, are not recognised as a celebration of love and happiness, but are sadly seen in many countries as a threat. These marches are often a call by LGBT people to recognize their human rights. Yet too often these marches are banned by governments or local politicians. The European Court of Human Rights and other European Institutions have confirmed the rights of LGBT people to peaceful assembly, but the governments and local authorities of countries like Latvia, Poland and Lithuania, amongst others, fail to respect these rights.

Last year our Minister of European Affairs Cecilia Malmström – was in Warsaw to show her and the Swedish government’s solidarity with the LBGT community in Poland. I was there as well marching side by side with the Minister showing my personal solidarity and support concerning the LGBT-rights in Poland.

 

The situation has improved in Europe, but still we have throughout our continent had severe problems with discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. And this is of course totally unacceptable.

 

In the EP I am active in the LGBT Intergroup and recently we sent a letter to the Hungarian authorities protesting of the violence in the Pride March in Budapest in the beginning of July.

In the special Eurobarometer on discrimination presented in June. The Eurobarometer showed that the citizens of the member states believes that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is the second most widespread form of discrimination in the EU.

 

On a country by country basis it seems to be particularly widespread in many of the Mediterranean countries (Cyprus, Greece 73%), (Italy 72), (Portugal 65%).  In contrast discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is seen as much less widespread in many of the new member countries (Bulgaria 20%), (Czech Rebublic 27%). An important factor is that notably fewer respondents in the new member states reported having homosexual friends. (In Sweden 56 % believed that it was widespread, a bit over the EU average at 51 %).

 

This might seems strange, but studying the other answers given by the Eurobarometer, the picture becomes clear. On average Scandinavia (Sweden 9,5) (Denmark, the Netherlands 9,3)  perceives together with the Netherlands would have the least problems having a homosexual person as their neighbour or in the highest political office, but this level of comfort is not shared by the new members states Bulgaria 5,3), (Lithuania 6,1) and (Latvia 5,5). The scale is 1-10.

 

This to me shows that we in the European Union still have a lot of work to do! Especially in changing attitudes in some member states we have to begin by recognising the homosexuals and then we can start discussing how to best come to grip with the discrimination that exists.

 

Just before the Europride Mr Bengt Held from Amnesty in Malmö presented a report with a scoreboard of the best performing countries concerning LGBT-legislation. Spain is in the lead followed by Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Iceland. Thereafter Finland. Luxemburg, England and Wales. In the bottom we find Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus and Turkey.

 

EU - actions
It has taken a long time for the European Union to begin to tackle the question of combating discrimination, which, until recently, was an area for which the Member States were exclusively responsible.

 

So, what has the EU done so far? From the legal point of view discrimination on ground of sexual orientation is dealt with in the Amsterdam treaty, as it introduced new provisions on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, among other grounds. The European Union was then able to adopt, the following year that is to say in 2000, legislation banning any discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation in the areas of employment and vocational training.

 

This legislation covers access to employment, working conditions, remuneration and
rights and benefits in relation to employment.

 

Apart from the legal aspects the European Union has taken a number of specific actions to combat sexual discrimination

 

Anti-discrimination programme
In 2001 the European Union also adopted a Community anti-discrimination
programme, which was designed to support the efforts of the Member States to
combat discrimination. This programme has three objectives:

- firstly, to find out more about the extent and impact of discrimination,
- secondly, to strengthen the ability of the players concerned to combat
discrimination effectively, and
- thirdly, to increase awareness of the values that are of fundamental importance
for combating discrimination.

 

Moreover, under the anti-discrimination action programme, the European
Commission is financing four networks of European NGOs, including ILGA-Europe,
that represents the victims of discrimination and defend their rights.

 

Lastly, over the period 2004-2006, the Community Action Programme is supporting
25 transnational measures covering all grounds of discrimination, including sexual
orientation. Several NGOs representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
communities are involved in various projects.

 

I should like to stress that, for me, it is not just a question of the role of the European
Commission as “guardian of the Treaties”, for me working in the Parliament I believe in our responsibility of making such issues heard within the European system and I am personally committed to work to ensuring that the legislation on non-discrimination is complied with by ALL the Member States.

 

This for us means following closely the development in all the member states, but maybe in particular the newer ones, where the rights given by the treaties does not always follow through in actions.

 

2007: European Year of Equal Opportunities for All
2007 was the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All and it focused on making all citizens of the EU aware of the advantages of a just society that gives each
person the same opportunities, regardless of sex, ethnic or racial origin, religion
or belief, abilities, age or sexual orientation. This was carried through by a number of campaigns, but to me one of the most important tools for reaching out is

 

Our work in the European Parliament
The most carefully crafted legislation will not be enough to eradicate discrimination
unless it is underpinned by clear political will and enjoys popular support.  Our role as politicians is just that, making your rights as citizens heard, and especially against any form of discrimination. The intergroup on LGBT spans across the political scale and we are active in promoting and taking part in Pride festival and arrangements all over Europe, especially in the new member states. But also in countries such as Croatia and Turkey. Two of my liberal colleagues were there in support of the LGBT-community.

We also work to monitor and amend legislation within the parliament and push the commission into acting more strongly and consistent when dealing with discrimination based upon sexual grounds.

 

An important step was taken the 2: nd of July when the Commission proposed a “horizontal directive” on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
The Parliament and the Inter group have fought for this principle based approach for a long time with the support from ILGA Europe and Amnesty.

Just before leaving Parliament for the summer brake I met with our chairman, the UK labour MEP, Michael Cashman and he was happy telling me that the president of the Commission- Mr Barroso – had phoned him personally to give him the message.
The EP has underlined that any new proposed directive designed to combat discrimination as referred to in Article 13 of the EC Treaty will have to prohibit all forms of discrimination, including direct and indirect discrimination in all areas already covered by the previous directives.

The EP also stressed that the Directive should make clear that there is no hierarchy between the different forms of discrimination and that they must all be combated in equally strong measure; insists that any new proposed legislation duly reflects all the specificities of the different respective grounds.

We have sent an open letter on the concerning the international Day against Homophobia, calling for the Member states to implement what they already have decided to do, and outside Europe demand the abolishment of the death penalty for homosexuality.

The Intergroup also monitor the situation globally.
In Saudi-Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Mauritania, Nigeria and Sudan consenting same sex adults, who engage in sexual relationships, face the death penalty.

Just recently I together with other liberal colleagues put a question to the Commission of the deteriorating situation for homosexuals in Gambia. The President Yahya Jammeh made in May some dreadful statements about homosexuals; cutting their throats if they did not leave the country within 24 hours.  The President stated tougher laws than in Iran.

 

We got the answer from the Commission yesterday in which they promised to raise this issue with the Gambian authorities in accordance to the Cotonou agreement. We know that that two Spanish men were jailed in Gambia in May, accused of being homosexuals. Later on released.

The EU can and should use its influence worldwide in protecting human rights, including LGBT-rights. The EU can use its soft power and also its financial possibilities.

 

As I said at the beginning of my talk, the legal provisions that currently exist at
European-Union level for combating discrimination only cover employment in the
broad sense, except for discrimination based on race or ethnic origin.

 

Any statement about the dangers of a “homosexualisation of society” or the
“contagious nature of homosexuality” must be considered to be equivalent to the
racist ravings about the immigrants.

Homophobic statements are equally absurd, paranoid and dangerous.
Unfortunately, we have heard too many statements of this kind in the recent past.
There is NO place for such language of hatred and exclusion.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
In our history there have been periods, cultures and civilisations that have been more or less tolerant, but I believe that, today, only full equality and dignity can be considered to be acceptable. I am pleased to say that the European Union is contributing to full equality for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, but I am more convinced than ever that there is still work to be done in this area and that further progress can be achieved.