EU enlargement
The point on which ILGA-Europe’s focuses are the respect of equality and human rights for lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Existing EU law includes two pieces of legislation of particular importance in the context of sexual orientation discrimination: the Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment forbids such discrimination in all aspects of the employment relationship; while the Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits “any discrimination” based on sexual orientation.
Respecting human rights must be taken to include, inter alia, respect for those guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
It is clear that, both in terms of the acquis communautaire, and of the human rights criteria for accession, there is an obligation on the institutions of the European Union to ensure that applicant countries have:
• established respect for the human rights of LGBT people,
• provided the necessary protection for this group from discrimination
ILGA-Europe closely monitors these developments in partnership with national organisations working on promoting the rights of LGBT people. We send information on human rights violation and discrimination affecting LGBT people to the relevant European Institutions (European Commission and the European Parliament) and the national governments
For more information, please contact Christine Loudes:
christine@ilga-europe.org
