Combating Discrimination and Violence on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity through Improved Legal Frameworks and Implementation of European Standards

Duration: 1 August 2019 – 31 January 2021

Purpose: to ensure effective protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in line with international human rights standards, by identifying existing legal gaps, building capacities of legislators and public policy makers and raising public awareness.

Project Objectives:

• To develop legislative initiatives with the aim of implementing the Council of Europe and the European Union standards on the protection of LGBTI human rights at the national level;
• To build capacities of legislators and public policy makers to implement international human rights standards with the aim of combating discrimination based on sexual orientation and (or) gender identity;
• To increase public awareness on legal and social challenges that LGBTI persons are experiencing at the national level.

Project Activities:

• an International Conference on Challenges, Good Practices and Opportunities for More Effective Protection of LGBTI Human Rights (Rome, Italy);
• a national review on the main challenges within the national legal system in ensuring the rights and freedoms of LGBTI persons in line with the international human rights standards;
• a task force (i.e. working group) tasked with proposing improvements to the national legal framework, offering effective protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and (or) gender identity at the national level;
• trainings for legislators, public policy-makers and law enforcement officials to enhance their capacities to implement international human rights standards at the national level (at least 40 participants in Lithuania);
• an awareness-raising campaign on social networks to raise public awareness on legal, social and cultural challenges faced by LGBTI communities in specific countries.

The project is implemented in three European Union Member States: Lithuania, Italy and Romania. The results of the project by applying the Council of Europe human rights standards, will be presented as a good practice example in harmonizing legal standards for LGBTI persons in different European Union countries.

The project is implemented by the Council of Europe SOGI Unit (France), the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson (Lithuania), the Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (Italy) and the association “ACCEPT” (Romania). 

The project is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the  European Union (Project Agreement No. JUST-REC-RDIS-DISC-AG-2018-848821).