14TH ILGA-EUROPE'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE, The Hague 28-31 OCTOBER 2010
"EXPRESSING OUR DIFFERENCES, CHALLENGING OUR PREJUDICES, DEVELOPING OUR ALLIANCES"
Simone and Malu - Famiglie Arcobaleno
SHORT BRIEF ILGA-Europe
It is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Intersex (LGBTI) ILGA Association. It works for equality and human rights for LGBTI people at European level. It s an international non-governmental umbrella organisation bringing together 277 organisations from 40 European countries out of 47 member states of the Council of Europe. It advocates for human rights and equality for LGTBI people at European level organisations such as the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It strengthens European LGBTI movement through capacity building by providing trainings and support to its member organisations and other LGTBI groups on lobbying, advocacy, fundraising, organisational development and communications. I found the annual conference also an essential platform for networking at national and international level (Their website offers additional social media possibilities for networking ie via facebook, twitter etc).
ILGA-Europe annual budget 2009: 1 800 000 Euro.
ILGA-Europe strategic objective 4 (out of 6) has been "working towards full recognition and equality of families and family relationships". Juha Jamsa, Nelfa representative present in the Den Haag voting session of the strategic plan 2011-2013, confirmed to me the family objective was voted also for forthcoming period. Updates on relevant information on families: www.ilga-europe.org/home/issues/families
MAIN POINTS DEN HAAG
Over 260 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) activists, European and national politicians, representatives of other organisations from 37 European countries gathered in The Hague, The Netherlands between 28 and 31 October 2010 for the largest annual event on LGBTI rights in Europe. See enclosed List of participants. Agenda as well as short descriptions /reports from plenaries & workshops are available (or will be gradually uploaded) on ILGA website: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/about_us/annual_conference/the_hague_2010
The conference theme "Expressing our differences, challenging our prejudices, developing our alliances" was the red thread running through several plenaries and workshops. Conference participants adopted a resolution expressing concerns about the rise of extremism in Europe and encouraging ILGA-Europe, including member organisations, to support efforts to tackle extremism in all its forms. A second resolution of the Conference encourages ILGA-Europe member organisations to actively promote and embrace diversity within LGBTI communities. Several key note speakers provided input for discussion:
http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/about_us/annual_conference/the_hague_2010
Election results for ILGA-Europe Executive Board & ILGA World Board can be found here: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/news/for_media/media_releases/14th_ilga_europe_s_annual_conference_concluded_in_the_hague
Juha Jamsa - representative from the Network of European LGTB Families association NELFA – who had stood for elections to the ILGA-Europe executive Board, did not make it to the minimum quorum of 20% for inclusion.
FA ILGA Affiliation. As FA is not affiliated, we cannot have a direct vote, neither on the executive board nor on the ILGA strategic plan. Affiliation is relatively economical (should be between 100-150 Euro) and also opens up opportunies for capacity building of FA members.
ILGA-Europe conference Torino 2011. On the sidetracks to the event, discussions went on ref. Turin 2011. I joined some of these discussions amongst Italian representatives in charge and joined as well part of their lunch meeting with ILGA-Europe staff (Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director and Maxime Anmeghicean, Programmes Director) where preliminary issues on content and organisational aspects were discussed, ie around which major themes to orient the 2011 event (ie ILGA wishes it to be also linked with national context) and proposed division of tasks ILGA/Italian event organisers. I agreed to join meeting on 2 November for a common debriefing on Den Haag. A more formal meeting at national level by national organising committee 2011 is foreseen 20 November for next steps. Target audience number: 250 participants. Torino 2011 committee to come forward with proposal on venue offers.
Action: FA representative to ensure that FA topic is clearly kept in the agenda 2011 It wasn't that high up in the Den Haag agenda (due to lack of representatives /visibility at ILGA level?)
Action: FA to provide input on 'theme'/red thread for conference 2011, keeping in mind also national specificities /need for action
FA visibility. I met the ILGA world press officer (didn't catch his name, he is newly appointed, but Europe communication officer is Nanna Moe) as well as World Executive Director (Sebastian Rocca/Italian) and Secretary General (Renato Sabbadini/Italian) and discussed shortly FA with them. Press officer told me that even if we decide not to pay affiliation, FA can still send the FA website link to ILGA website to be taken up under relevant links for Italy. Also, I mentionned FA visibility actions, ie recent/forthcoming articles in the press. They asked if we could keep them informed on these. There is a language issue though because our articles are in Italian and ILGA-world core languages are so far only EN, FR, ES, PT due to limited ressources, but the Director suggested they could take care of Italian translation on case by case.
Action. FA communication officer to follow-up
Sereno Regis/Training project. Bilateral meeting with Anna /NL and Malu could not take place Anna could not join the meeting due to unforeseen national transport problems. However they will discuss via skype.
Attended plenaries & workshops
I attended plenary panel 1 'European policies on human righs of LGTBI people' & plenary panel 2 on 'Expressing our differences, challenging our prejudices, developing our alliances' and assisted following workshops:
- WS 2. Council of Europe: Implementing Committee of Ministers Recommendation
see handout 'Council of Europe recommendation to member states on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity: Toolkit for promoting implementation of the recommendation at national level'.
Action: Italy to nominate 1 representative as focal point for coordination of implementation at national level. (In my understanding could be either a representative from relevant Ministry or alternatively, from a National human rights organisation, ie: 'National Office of Racial Discrimination'? It represents Italy as part of Equinet European network of equality bodies). I informed IT representatives present (coordinamento Torino pride LGTB and others). Person to be contacted: Nigel Warner, ILGA-Europe's adviser on Council of Europe ( Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. E' necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo. )
- WS 6. Challenging our prejudices: gender
- WS 15: Buidling alliances: anti-racism
- WS 18. Building alliances at National level – presentation of best pratices
- WS 23: LGTB families: claiming equal rights and recognition
see handout 'Overview of forms of joint legal parenting available to same-sex couples in European countries', Kees Waaldijk, Law school, University of Leiden (article apparu dans la revue internationale de théorie du droit et de sociologie juridique 'Droit et société', 72/2009).
HANDOUTS
- List of participants;
- Council of Europe recommendation to member states on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity: Toolkit for promoting implementation of the recommendation at national level
- Overview of forms of joint legal parenting available to same-sex couples in European countries', Kees Waaldijk, Law school, University of Leiden
USEFUL PUBLICATIONS
- Make it work: Six steps to effective LGBT human rights advocacy (ILGA-Europe, Oct 2010). This advocacy manual has been written to provide a logical structure and a set of methods, tools and skills which advocates can use in planning and implementing their advocacy work. It is primarily concerned with how and where LGBT human rights advocates in the domestic setting can employ International and regional human rights instruments to frame their arguments and achieve their advocacy objectives. Downloadable from http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publications/reports_and_other_materials
- An activist's guide to the Yogyakarta principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (August 2010) This guide is written by Sheila Quinn and is targeted primarily to activists working on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues. http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publications/euro_letter/2010/in_english/euroletter_181_september_2010
- Annual report for 2009-2010 downloadable here: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/about_us/annual_conference/the_hague_2010/pre_conference_mailings/3rd_conference_mailing