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Council of Europe Parliamentarians Demand Concrete Action Against Transphobic Violence in Turkey
27 Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have condemned the on-going violence and discrimination against transgender persons in Turkey on Oct 2 2013. Referring to TGEU research data on killed trans people in the country the parliamentarians demand from the Turkish government concerted action to end these human rights violations.
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Read the text in full below.
Doc. 13323
02 October 2013
The need for measures to counter transphobic and homophobic violence and discrimination in Turkey
Written declaration No. 555
This written declaration commits only those who have signed it
Transgender Europe’s monitoring of murders of transgender persons over the period from 2008 – 2012 shows that Turkey consistently has much the highest reported number of such cases in Europe.
A recent report on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Turkey documents 6 cases where transgender persons and 5 cases where lesbian, gay or bisexual persons lost their lives because of hate motivated killings in 2012.
These murders are but the most extreme form of the discrimination experienced by LGBT people in many parts of Turkish society. Moreover, all too often homophobic and transphobic attitudes within law enforcement agencies mean that the response of the authorities to such acts of discrimination is inadequate.
This situation can only be improved by an extensive government led programme of, inter alia, awareness raising among the general public, law reform (including particularly the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-hate crime and anti-discrimination measures), and the training of police and judiciary.
We call upon the Turkish government to implement such a programme, using the Committee of
Recommendation on combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity as the framework.
Signed,
GUNNARSSON Jonas, Sweden, SOC
ACKETOFT Tina, Sweden, ALDE
ANDREOLI Paride, San Marino, SOC
BLANCO Delia, Spain, SOC
BONET PEROT Sílvia Eloïsa, Andorra, SOC
CEDERBRATT Mikael, Sweden, EPP/CD
CHRISTOFFERSEN Lise, Norway, SOC
CONNARTY Michael, United Kingdom, SOC
DÍAZ TEJERA Arcadio, Spain, SOC
GARÐARSON Karl, Iceland, ALDE
GIOVAGNOLI Gerardo, San Marino, SOC
HÄGG Carina, Sweden, SOC
JÁUREGUI Ramón, Spain, SOC
JENSEN Mogens, Denmark, SOC
JENSEN Michael Aastrup, Denmark, ALDE
JÓNASSON Ögmundur, Iceland, UEL
KONRÁÐSDÓTTIR Unnur Brá, Iceland, EDG
LE BORGN’ Pierre-Yves, France, SOC
LUNDGREN Kerstin, Sweden, ALDE
MAURY PASQUIER Liliane, Switzerland, SOC
MYLLER Riitta, Finland, SOC
OHLSSON Carina, Sweden, SOC
POURBAIX-LUNDIN Marietta, de, Sweden, EPP/CD
RAČAN Ivan, Croatia, SOC
TRETTEBERGSTUEN Anette, Norway, SOC
VILLUMSEN Nikolaj, Denmark, UEL
WURM Gisela, Austria, SOC
Total = 27
EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
SOC: Socialist Group
ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
EDG: European Democrat Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: Representatives not belonging to a Political Group
picture source: pembe hayat