LGBTI equality and human rights in Europe and Central Asia

Human Rights and Gender Identity: Best Practice Catalogue

Human Rights and Gender Identity: Best Practice Catalogue is a civil society follow-up to the pioneering work of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, and his 2009 Issue Paper entitled Human Rights and Gender Identity.

In it, the Commissioner explored the human rights situation of trans people in depth, clearly showing that they remain one of the most vulnerable and discriminated communities due to inadequate legislation and social marginalisation. Through a set of twelve recommendations, the Commissioner called on Council of Europe Member States to respect the human rights of trans people and put in place concrete measures for the social inclusion and emancipation of trans people.  

Policy makers and LGBTI organisations alike, have often asked ILGA-Europe and Transgender Europe to provide advice towards the implementation of these recommendations. We therefore became increasingly aware that it was useful to publish the most complete set of best practices that are known to us, to illustrate how each of the twelve recommendations can be met in legislation, policy and practice. We hope that this publication will inspire legislators, decision makers, equality bodies, and human rights organisations to work towards a world free from discrimination on the ground of gender identity and gender expression that aff ords trans people the dignity and respect that they deserve.