17 MAY: INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA

All over the world, LGBTI people are targeted and subjected to violence and discrimination because of who they are in breach of the principles of equality and non-discrimination which underpin the protection of human rights in democratic societies. 

Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights outlaws all forms of discrimination but systematic violations of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people continue to occur in Council of Europe Member States. 

The NGO, ILGA-Europe is concerned about the scale of violence against LBTQIA people.

In France, according to the Ministry of the Interior, the number of "anti-LGBT+" crimes has more than doubled since 2016. And in a survey in Italy, according to NBC News, 41.4% said that being gay or bisexual had been detrimental to their career, professional recognition or salary. 

The German online platform Statista which specialises in data collection paints an even bleaker picture of the situation in Eastern Europe. In Russia, same-sex marriages are banned; in Armenia LGBT rights are often breached; in Turkey the LGBT community faces hostility from the government; and in Azerbaijan homosexuality is violently repressed.

17 May marks the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. This day celebrates the World Health Organisation’s decision in 1990 to no longer consider homosexuality a mental illness and reminds us that the fight for fundamental rights continues.