20 November - the Transgender Day of Rememberance

20 November – the Transgender Day of Remembrance

Prejudice, hatred and discrimination against trans people remains one of the human rights violations in Europe

Gender identity is gradually being recognised as a ground of discrimination:
out of 49 European countries, 12 countries explicitly refer to gender identity in their laws on hate crimes.

2011 – Council of Europe adopts Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. It is the first legally binding instrument in the world creating a comprehensive legal framework to prevent violence, to protect victims and to end with the impunity of perpetrators and includes explicit reference to transgender people.

As of November 2013, out of 47 Member State of the Council of Europe:
32 countries signed the Convention and only 7 countries ratified the Convention.

2012 – EU adopts a Directive which established a set of measures to strengthen victims’ rights in the European Union. The Directive acknowledges the existence of specific protection needs of victims of crimes committed with a bias or discriminatory motive related to their personal characteristics. These characteristics include sexual orientation, gender and gender identity or expression. It was hailed as the first international piece of legislation referring to gender expression.

ILGA-Europe calls :

· on the EU to extend its Framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia to cover violence on the grounds of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation

· On the European Commission to adopt an LGBT Roadmap which will address the issues of discrimination, hatred and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people and draw measures for prevention and adequate redress of such manifestations.

· On the European Union and all Member States of the Council of Europe to sign and ratify the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence.