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EUROPEAN UNION
[English] The European Parliament has recommended that the future EU Special Representative for Human Rights, soon to be appointed, should promote the human rights of LGBT people worldwide. The Foreign Affairs Council (comprising all 27 foreign affairs ministers in the EU) are expected to appoint the new Special Representative at their 25 June meeting in Brussels.
http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/press-releases/future-eu-human-rights-ambassador-should-promote-lgbt-rights-parliament-says/
[English] Registered partners should have the same property rights as spouses under EU law, according to a statement of the Fundamental Rights Agency.
http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/press-releases/fra-registered-partners-should-have-the-same-property-rights-as-spouses-under-eu-law/
[English] The European Commission has just published a new report, ‘Discrimination against trans and intersex people on the grounds of sex, gender identity and gender expression‘, authored by Silvan Agius and Christa Tobler. With it, the European Commission looks into the situation of trans and intersex people for the first time.
http://www.non-discrimination.net/content/media/Trans%20and%20intersex%20people.pdf
[English] The EU lags in protecting the rights of sexual minorities, MEPs have said, summarising its policy as “words, not action.” The European Commission, for its part, says it is doing all it can, noting that it uses “actions, not words.”
http://euobserver.com/890/116590
FINLAND
[English] After his recent visit to Finland, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe said: “The Commissioner welcomed the explicit prohibition of homophobic hate crime in the penal code and urged the Finnish Government to extend the provision to include transphobic hate crime as well. The protection system for equal treatment should clearly cover both sexual orientation and gender identity. Infertility and non-marriage as requirements for the official recognition of gender reassignment should be abolished while special attention should be given to the self-determination of inter-sex persons.”
http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/News/2012/120613Finland_en.asp
GERMANY
[German] New coalition agreement for North Rhine-Westphalia between SPD and the Green Party with a clear commitment to promoting equality: “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and intersex people (LGBTTI) are part of our multifaceted society. We will continue to fight that the people in North Rhine-Westphalia can live without discrimination, no matter their gender, age, origin, disability, religion or sexual identity. Reducing discrimination, homophobia and transphobia is the responsibility of this state government.”
http://www.inqueery.de/ueberregional/rot-gruene-landesregierung-stellt-neuen-koalitionsvertrag-vor
ICELAND
[Icelandic] On June 11, the Parliament of Iceland has accepted a law for trans people. It’ll enter into force on June 27. To see the law, click on 1174 at the very bottom of the page. [And an online translator might be helpful 😉 ]
http://www.althingi.is/dba-bin/ferill.pl?ltg=140&mnr=736
MOLDOVA
[English] The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Moldova had violated GENDERDOC-M’s rights to peaceful assembly and to be free from discrimination when it denied the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) campaigning group to hold a peaceful demonstration in front of the Parliament.
http://ilga-europe.org/home/news/for_media/media_releases/european_court_moldova_s_ban_on_lgbt_demonstration_violated_human_rights
RUSSIA
[Russian+Pictures] Assault on LGBT activists in St Petersburg. More than a dozen adolescents cried “This is Sparta!”, assaulted the activists and sprayed gas at them.
http://www.ridus.ru/news/36328/
[English] LGBT activist Nikolai Alexeyev lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights over a controversial St. Petersburg law introducing fines for promoting homosexuality.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/activist-appeals-st-pete-anti-gay-bill-in-european-court/460267.html
SWITZERLAND
[German] Here’s the results from the first Swiss-wide survey about the employment situation of trans people.
http://www.transgender-network.ch/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012-Transpersonen-und-Arbeitsmarkt-in-der-Schweiz_Abstract.pdf
UNITED KINGDOM
[English] More than a quarter of people in Northern Ireland would object to living beside a gay neighbour, a new survey said. Regarding trans people, around a third of people (35%) would mind a transgender person as a work colleague, rising to 40% as a neighbour and 53% as an in-law.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jrySYuop1splK_WHPuuzhBJM8lVQ?docId=N0237811339509530339A
[English] 77-year-old April Ashley has been awarded an MBE (“Member of the Order of the British Empire”) in the Queen’s birthday honours, for her services to transgender equality.
http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory/7475/16/06/2012/april-ashley-receives-mbe-for-services-to-transgender-equality.aspx
[English] Young trans people published a brochure with health advice for other young trans people.
http://www.genderedintelligence.co.uk/resources/GI-sexual-health-booklet.pdf
UNITED NATIONS
[English] In her opening statement to the 20th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Navi Pillay said among many other items: “I am concerned about laws and bills restricting freedom of expression and assembly for LGBT persons and groups, for example in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Russian Federation, as well as repeated high-level expressions of homophobia exacerbating the situation.” See the video from 22:20 onwards.
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/06/navanethem-pillay-1st-meeting-of-20th-session-human-rights-council.html