Rainbow Map 2020: Make-Or-Break Moment For LGBT+ Rights In Europe
In the latest annual Rainbow Europe Review, ILGA-Europe has produced a Rainbow Map and Index, ranking 49 European countries on their respective legal policy practices affecting the LGBT+ community. The review warns that even once-leading countries in Europe are “falling behind” in their commitments to equality for LGBT+ people. In these hard times of the coronavirus pandemic the vulnerable LGBT+ community is disproportionately affected leading some governments to use this crisis as an excuse to advance their agendas to cut-down human rights. ILGA-Europe claims that Europe is facing an extremely important moment for LGBT+ equality.
“This is a critical time for LGBTI equality in Europe,” says Evelyne Paradis, executive director of ILGA-Europe. “With each year passing, more and more countries, including champions of LGBTI equality, continue to fall behind in their commitments to equality for LGBTI people, while more governments take active measures to target LGBTI communities. History shows that those who are vulnerable before a crisis only become more vulnerable after a crisis, so we have every reason to worry that political complacency, increased repression and socio-economic hardship will create a perfect storm for many LGBTI people in Europe in the next few years.”
In this year’s report Malta comes out on top with a score of 89/100. Belgium follows with a score of 73/100 and Luxembourg, which received the same score as Belgium, comes third in the ranking.
Countries like Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia come last in the Rainbow Europe scale with scores of only 2/100, 4/100 and 8/100 respectively.
Hungary has seen the most dramatic drop in its score, losing 8.46 points in relation to suspended procedures for legal gender recognition and the lack of proper state protection at public events, as ‘Emerging Europe’ reports. Poland has also dropped by 1.9 points and is now the lowest EU member country in the index.
“Undeniably, looking at the country rankings of the 2020 ILGA-Europe Rainbow map, there is still unfortunately an East-West divide between European countries,” Katrin Hugendubel, ILGA-Europe’s advocacy director said. “When looking at the ranking, we need to take into consideration that in many cases the countries in the east of Europe started their journey towards the legal protection of LGBTI rights with a delay and as such still have a longer road ahead.”
Hugendubel adds, however, that the differences are not as marked as we often tend to believe.
“The second LGBTI survey of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, also published today, shows very clearly that rise of intolerance and hate is felt in countries both East and West alike. For example, in Poland and France, over 50 per cent of respondents said that intolerance has increased overall. Equally worrying is the stagnation in progress on LGBTI rights, identified in this year’s Rainbow Europe across the board. With each year passing, more and more countries, including champions of LGBTI equality, continue to fall behind in their commitments to equality for LGBTI people. The results of this year’s Rainbow Map show that equality measures are falling through the cracks in several countries, not because of lack of political and public support but because of widespread complacency about the need for LGBTI equality measures. As ILGA-Europe we thus call on all governments to learn from each other and show political leadership in progressing LGBTI rights at these critical times.”
Darienne Flemington, co-chair of the ILGA-Europe Executive Board states that “Countries like Hungary, Poland and Turkey have been in the spotlight because of their policies targeting LGBTI communities prior to the pandemic. The proposed ban of legal gender recognition in Hungary, proposed laws to ban abortion and sex education in Poland, scapegoating of LGBTI people as the source of the coronavirus by Turkey’s political leaders – these are all alarming signals of how governments with strong authoritarian tendencies are emboldened by the crisis to further limit the rights of vulnerable groups and minorities. If there was ever a time for European governments and institutions to stand firm on the rule of law and human rights, it is now.”
Montenegro, North Macedonia and the Netherands were the countries with the biggest jump in their scores. Montenegro announced a comprehensive action plan for the next four years and prohibited discrimination based on sex characteristics. North Macedonia amended its equality and criminal codes, adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected grounds. In the Netherlands, the Equal Treatment Act was amended with the inclusion of gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics grounds.
Read related myGwork articles here:
LGBTQ+ History: The Story of Europe
ILGA-Europe Warns LGBT+ Rights Are Moving Backwards
Poland Could Start Sending Teachers To Prison For Turning Kids Gay
Bosnia And Herzegovina Take First Steps To Recognising Same-Sex Couples
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