A European Roundtable on ‘Right to life, security and protection from violence: combating SOGIESC-based hate crime across Europe’, will be hosted in Dublin by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the Council of Europe Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit on 27 October (10:15-17:00 UTC). The event is one of the final events of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe, which has had promoting inclusion and diversity across Europe as one of its key priorities.
The roundtable will see representatives from governments, NGOS, academic institutions and other stakeholder organisations from across Europe gather to discuss the issue of anti-LGBTI+ hate crime and share best practices in preventing it. Panel discussion will focus on the challenge of combatting hate crime, how to advance legal protection and law enforcement, and how to best support hate crime victims. The outcomes of the Roundtable will contribute towards a report providing recommendations on combatting anti-LGBTI+ hate crime across Europe, which will be adopted by the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI).
The event will be opened by Minister Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Hallvard Gorseth, Head of the Council of Europe’s Anti-Discrimination Department, and Triantafillos Loukarelis, Chair of the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI). Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency will provide a keynote speech.
The event will be livestreamed here, with opportunities for questions to be submitted remotely. The programme is available here.
The roundtable will be followed on 28 October by a closed meeting of the Council of Europe working Group on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (GT-ADI-SOGI) which will bring together policymakers working on LGBTI+ rights from across the Council of Europe’s member states.