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TGEU eNews
23 December 2013 |
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A Message from the Steering Committee |
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Newly elected members of the Steering Committee – Nathan Gale (Scottish Transgender Alliance) and Arian Kajtezović (Trans Aid Croatia)
We are happy to announce that we have two great new members of the Steering Committee to fill the seats left empty by Maria Sundin and Kim Trau.Nathan Gale and Arian Kajtezović joined our team in November and we are looking forward to working with them until our next Council in Budapest.You can read their profiles on our website.
We have had an inspiring year with a number of important events and changes, both around Europe and globally, in terms of the recognition of trans* human rights. We have seen change happen in Sweden and also recently in the Netherlands – both of these countries have decided to ban sterilisation of transgender people as a prerequisite for gender recognition. We have also witnessed the political will for change in other countries, especially in Central and Eastern Europe – Serbia, Albania and Poland are on their way to creating new gender recognition laws (which was also a result of the work the Council of Europe has put into this region). In Western parts, Ireland seems to be catching up as well. But it was also a difficult year. Sadly, we have seen many new cases in the Trans* Murder Monitoring project, we have witnessed the crack-down in Thessaloniki and have feared for the lives of our friends in Russia and Uganda.
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Date for the 5th Council announced!
5th Transgender Council to be held between May 1st and 4th 2014! The 5th European Transgender Council will take place in Budapest. You are most welcome to attend from May 1 to May 4 in the luxury hotel Rubin on the Buda side of Budapest. It is easily reachable by car or public transport.We are busy creating a really interesting programme for you. In the middle of January the scholarships call will be sent out and in mid-February we will open the registration.
Time flies when you are having fun and are busy doing good things, so half a year is only a short period of time. We’re really looking forward to seeing you all in the lovely capital of Hungary. |
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You can now follow TGEU’s latest news both on facebook and twitter!
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We are constantly moving forward, but cannot forget that the evolving human rights situation of transgender people in Europe and beyond is also a result of our communities standing together.
We wish you all the best in the upcoming yearIn solidarity
The Steering Committee and staff of TGEU Governments and Trans Civil Society came together at
Gender Recognition Roundtable 
In the first weekend of November 21 trans activists from 17 different countries came to Berlin to attend TGEU’s seminar on Legal Gender Recognition: “From Stumbling Block to Stepping Stone”. The three day seminar offered concise presentations, interactive workshops and exercises focussing on how to advance legal gender recognition legislation. The seminar was followed by a roundtable on legal gender recognition jointly organized by TGEU and ILGA-Europe. The roundtable brought together government officials and trans activists from countries in which LGR legislation is either under review or in which there exists an attempt to legislate. The roundtable aimed at discussing how to move the process of reform forward and presented good and best practices. Both events offered a lot of space for informal interaction, to learn from each other’s challenges and successes, and to understand what worked and did not work in other countries.
A new Gender Recognition Law in Poland? TGEU participates in Conference in Warsaw
On November 5th Polish TGEU member organisation Trans-Fuzja co-organized an international conference in Warsaw debating what a future law for gender recognition could look like.Richard Köhler from TGEU presented a European overview of the human rights standards gender recognition legislation has to live up to. He emphasized that procedures have to be quick, transparent and accessible and that individuals must not be forced to give up other rights for recognition of their identity.
“Human Rights and Gender Identity” paper now available in Albanian The famous 2009 transgender paper issued by Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights has been translated again into another language. After the original English edition it got translated and issued in German, Spanish, Polish, Turkish and now Albanian. Find the translation here.
We remember
Photo: Trans-Fuzja Foundation, Poland We would like you to take a moment to remember those persons from our membership region who have been killed as the result of hate crimes.
Jacqui Cowdrey from Worthing, England. She was found dead in her own house. Jacqui died at age 50.Zsuzsanna (23), found dead 3 November in a fishing pond in Jaszapati, Hungary. She was missing for a week and when found had several injuries to her face, throat and body. She was most probably killed.
May their souls rest in peace.
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Charles Radclifee, Chief of Global Issues Section at the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote a piece on human rights violations of transgender people in a piece titled “Do we care about trans rights?” |
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Get InvolvedBecome a member Visit our website Follow us on Facebook & Twitter |
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Transgender Europe (TGEU)
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Transgender Europe – TGEU works towards full equality for all gender variant people in Europe. |