As LGBTI people still experience high rates of discrimination and abuse, including violence, due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe today published a recommendation to stop intolerance and discrimination against LGBTI persons.
Individuals may also be subjected to discrimination and abuse due to their association with LGBTI people. Intolerance and discrimination against LGBTI people are manifested in complex and varied ways, negatively impacting the human rights of LGBTI people, notably their legal, social and political rights, which should be enjoyed in the same manner as everyone else.
ECRI calls on European policy makers at national, regional and local level, to develop measures that deter such discrimination and intolerance, and while doing so, take account of the diversity which exists across sexual orientations, gender identities and sex characteristics. Therefore, they should also recognise the rights and needs of individuals who fall within more than one LGBTI sub-category. In the view of ECRI, it is also vital to recognise the rights and needs of LGBTI individuals who suffer intersectional discrimination due to other key aspects of their identity or lived realities, including their ethnic or national background, citizenship, religion, gender, and disability status, or their refugee status or belonging to the Roma or Traveller communities.
