Mapping Digital Landscape of Trans Activism in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. A Toolkit and Call for Action
This mapping report provides a regional overview of digital organizing for trans activists in 26 countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe (CAEE), emphasizing shared patterns of digital usage, barriers to free and safe use of the internet, and a number of resistance strategies to homo/transphobic-motivated censorship, surveillance, and online attacks. The region under review is a heterogeneous one with diverging political contexts and a variety of historical and cultural backgrounds. The report intends to focus on the general trends and common challenges experienced in online activism, rather than providing a thorough contextual analysis of trans activism more broadly.
When it comes to recognizing trans people’s rights, countries in the region experience high levels of reported violence against trans people and few institutional protections for trans rights. This report gives special attention to the voices of trans people in Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Russia, and Turkey along with those in new EU member states who are the most marginalized, both in terms of international attention and funding. The report ends with examples of resistance strategies tactically deployed by trans activists to counter these threats.
This report was commissioned by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and Transgender Europe with the generous support of Access Now.
For more information on TGEU’s work documenting violence against trans people in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, see our Pro-Trans Project.