Leading Gay Rights Organisations Join Premises
ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association and ILGA-Europe, its European Region, moved into shared premises in Brussels last July. Both NGOs had been operating in the European capital for a number of years but occupied different spaces in the city.
Print HTML“ILGA once operated on the basis of local groups voluntarily taking up specific tasks around the world,” recalls activist Tom Hoemig, who managed its administrative secretariat for as long as eight years. “The Belgian gay association Tels Quels once proposed to host ILGA’s administrative secretariat, which explains our presence here”. Founded in 1978, ILGA is to this day the only international federation of organisations fighting for human rights and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the world, in particular campaigning for the United Nations to recognise and address sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. It currently gathers 550 groups.
Created in 1996, ILGA-Europe, the European Region of ILGA, advances equality for LGBT people at the European level through lobbying work with such principal European organisations as the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. ILGA-Europe is also a main network for LGBT organisations throughout the European continent.
The decision to share offices is the outcome of a conference decision urging ILGA and ILGA-Europe to tighten collaboration. It was based on a proposal of ILGA Dutch member COC. “Sharing spaces is simply common sense and a better use of our resources,” points out Philipp Braun, ILGA’s Co-Secretary General, “but it also makes political sense. It is important at this stage to consolidate ILGA as an NGO in order to be more efficient in our fight for LGBT people in the world. Closer collaboration between ILGA and its most structured region also means we’ll be able to use the experience and the success we’ve had in Europe to allow faster development for other regions of the world”.
Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said: "We are glad ILGA and ILGA-Europe made this significant and practical step. We hope that sharing premises is not only a practical and sensible solution, but that it will also strengthen the cooperation and increase the capacity of the entire organisation and, therefore, our ability to fight discrimination against LGBT people in Europe and worldwide".
ILGA and ILGA-Europe’s new and joint address is
rue de la Charité, 17
1210 Brussels
Belgium
Telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged:
ILGA
Tel/Fax: + 32 2 502 24 71
ILGA-Europe
Tel + 32 2 609 54 10
Fax + 32 2 609 54 19
Ends
For more information please contact
Stephen Barris at + 32 2 502 24 71
Juris Lavrikovs at + 32 2 609 54 16 / + 32 496 708 375
