ILGA-Europe and ERA – LGBTI

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ILGA-Europe and ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association just launched our joint LGBTI Enlargement Review for developments and priorities of the human rights of LGBTI people in EU accession countries during 2020.

The review will feed into the European Commission annual Enlargement Progress reports for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.

This year’s LGBTI Enlargement Review gives an insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTI people in the Enlargement countries, especially with regards to service provision and sustainability of LGBTI CSOs. It also details how the lived reality for LGBTI people is still very difficult, with hate crime and hate speech still a prominent issue.

However, it also covers some significant positive steps forward in the region such as the adoption of same-sex partnership legislation in Montenegro, movement towards legal gender recognition in North Macedonia, and the addition of sex characteristics and HIV status as protected grounds in the Albanian anti-discrimination law, among others.