Tag: ilga-europe

ILGA-Europe has released a set of guidelines for journalists covering LGBTQI+ issues. 

The guidelines provide clear recommendations on how to report on LGBTQI+related news, human rights, language, and specific recommendations for reporting on trans and intersex people. 

The guide also includes a list of essential resources for journalists seeking to stay up to date on LGBTQI+ issues. 

With the rise of anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-gender forces across Europe and the world, ILGA-Europe hopes that these guidelines will contribute to the quality and pluralism of the media landscape and support journalists in their work. 

These guidelines are particularly relevant as the rights of LGBTQI+s are increasingly threatened and marginalised in some European countries, including in Azerbaijan. By providing practical advice and resources, ILGA-Europe hopes to help journalists report on LGBTQI+ issues in a way that is accurate, respectful and inclusive.You can access the guide here.

The European Parliament has passed a resolution on EU-Azerbaijan relations, specifically emphasising the importance of human rights, including those of LGBTQI+ citizens. The resolution refers to several international conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The resolution highlights the importance of freedom of the press, and references the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law. It also references a previous European Parliament resolution on foreign interference in democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation.

The resolution emphasises the importance of upholding human rights, including those of LGBTQI+ citizens, and urges Azerbaijan to take measures to combat discrimination and violence against LGBTQI+ individuals. It also calls on the Azerbaijani government to release political prisoners and to cooperate fully with the European Court of Human Rights.

European Parliament also emphasises the situation regarding non-discrimination against LGBTQI+s in Azerbaijan. The resolution urges the Azerbaijani authorities to adopt anti-discrimination legislation that specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics. It also calls for civil, administrative, and/or criminal proceedings to protect people from hate speech and hate crimes.

The resolution further calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to reform criminal legislation by adding the aforementioned grounds as aggravating circumstances, and to combat violence against LGBTQI+ individuals. Additionally, it reiterates the call by PACE (the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) for the Azerbaijani authorities to investigate cases of wrongful arrest of LGBTQI+ citizens and to prevent and combat police violence against them.

The resolution condemns disinformation emanating from Azerbaijan targeting the West, specifically after the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. It notes that the narratives used against the West are similar to those used in Russian propaganda and include attacks on LGBTQI+ rights and alleged threats to traditional values.

The resolution also highlights the persistent hate speech and hate crime against LGBTQI+ citizens in Azerbaijan, as well as the country’s ranking as the worst among all Council of Europe countries in terms of legislation and policy aimed at protecting LGBTQI+ individuals, according to the ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Europe Index.

The resolution references a 2022 resolution adopted by PACE on violations of the rights of LGBTQI+s in the Southern Caucasus, which includes requests for authorities to reform legislation to address these violations.

Additionally, the resolution highlights the ongoing war in Ukraine, and references several United Nations Security Council resolutions and a ruling of the International Court of Justice. It also cited previous European Parliament resolutions on cultural heritage in Azerbaijan, the aftermath of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the implementation of the common foreign and security policy, the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, security in the Eastern Partnership area, and the humanitarian consequences of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This year, we have seen violence become more and more planned and deadly, making LGBTI people feel unsafe in countries across Europe.”

LGBTQI+ umbrella organisation, ILGA-Europe, announced that in 2022, hatred against LGBTQI+ across the region has reached the stage of life and death.

Launched today in Brussels, ILGA-Europe’s Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia finds that 2022 was the most violent year for LGBTQI+ individuals across the region in the past decade, both through planned, ferocious attacks and through suicides in the wake of rising and widespread hate speech from politicians, religious leaders, right-wing organisations and media pundits.

“Hate speech translates into physical violence”
According to the report, attacks on LGBTQI+s with a conscious and deliberate will to kill and injure have increased to unprecedented levels, including two terror attacks outside LGBTQI+ bars in Norway and Slovakia, which combined killed four people and maimed 22.

According to ILGA-Europe’s Executive Director, Evelyne Paradis: “At ILGA-Europe, we have been saying for years now that hate speech in all its forms translates into actual physical violence. This year, we have seen that violence become increasingly planned and deadly, leaving LGBTI people feeling unsafe in countries across Europe. We have seen proof that anti-LGBTI hate speech is not just the words of marginal leaders or would-be autocrats, but a real problem with dire consequences for people and communities. This phenomenon is not only in countries where hate speech is rife, but also in countries where it is widely believed that LGBTI people are progressively accepted.”

Azerbaijan: Calls for systemic hatred, murder of Avaz Hafizli
The report on Azerbaijan includes some noteworthy information. It was prepared with the direct participation of Minority Azerbaijan, Nafas LGBTI Azerbaijan Alliance, and Queerdian organisations. The report highlights the systematic hate speech of MPs in the country.

Last year, Avaz Hafizli, an LGBTQI+ rights activist and journalist, was murdered after Sevinj Huseynova, an Azerbaijani social media influencer, called for the physical “erasure” of sexual minorities and trans people in an Instagram video that was watched by thousands of people. This incident was included in the report.

In August 2022, the court sentenced the criminal to nine and a half years in prison, but ignored the homophobic motive and brutality of the murder. LGBTQI+ activists and journalists were not allowed to enter the courtroom. The meagre trial given to the murderer was strongly criticised by LGBTQI+ organisations and civil society.

You can read the English version of the report here.