Page 32 - bne_March 2021_20210303

32 I Central Europe bne March 2021
Abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people rises across Europe and Central Asia
that advancing the protection against discrimination and self-determination for trans people would harm women’s rights or ‘the protection of minors’.”
Among the 19 countries that have seen regression in this area are Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia, along with several Western European countries.
Abuse in Belarus
“Attacks on freedom of assembly continue to be a growing trend,” says the report. It details the “brutal crackdown in Belarus for months, including arrests, detention, violence, and torture of LGBTI people”. Mass protests erupted in the East European country after the rigged August 2020 presidential election.
“LGBTQI people and activists have par- ticipated in and supported the protests from the first day. Some have brought rainbow flags to the protests. LGBTQI activists warned that even if [Belarus’ self-declared president Alexander] Lukashenko resigned, their fight would be far from over,” said the report.
Among those detained in the protests was LGBT+ activist Victoria Biran, who was arrested and put in administrative detention for 15 days, when on her way to the Minsk Women’s March.
“Being a peaceful protester these days in Belarus means to be a target of violence, to be terrorised, detained, attacked, beaten up, injured and murdered on the
bne IntelliNews
There has been a “stark rise” in abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people in the Europe and Central Asia region, including from politicians, says a new report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association in Europe (ILGA-Europe).
The Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia 2021 shows the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic worsened the situation in the last year in multiple ways, from the use of emergency
powers by governments – notably in Hungary – to hack away at trans rights, to the exclusion of LGBTI people from coronavirus support packages.
“In reports from country after country, we see a stark rise in abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people,” said Evelyne Paradis, executive director
of ILGA-Europe. “There has been a resurgence of authorities and officials using LGBT people as scapegoats while
www.bne.eu
authoritarian regimes are empowered to isolate and legislate without due process. Overall, there has been a crackdown on democracy and civil society, and not just in Poland and Hungary, which made all the headlines in 2020. “
“The ILGA-Europe Annual Review 2021 shows a significant growth of opposition
“In reports from country after country, we see a stark rise in abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people”
towards trans rights across Europe, which is beginning to have a wide and negative impact on legal gender recognition,” said Katrin Hugendubel, advocacy director at ILGA-Europe.
“There is legal regression and stagnation in 19 countries, many of which have seen opposition forces become louder, saying
streets, or tortured in jail,” gay activist Andrei Zavalei told Politico.
In addition to developments in Belarus, “events were attacked or disturbed by extremists in Bulgaria ... in Poland anti-LGBT and anti-abortion rallies were rampant, while activists were arrested. In Russia activists were detained; in