Overdue for EU to tackle homophobia in Europe

2.30.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 24th May 2007

Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman and MEP for London Baroness Sarah Ludford has called on the EU Presidency to take overdue action to stop the rash of homophobic actions in some member states. The latest is the ban by the mayor of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius of the visit of a bus promoting the EU's "For Diversity; against discrimination" campaign and an associated rally of local LGBT activists.

Sarah Ludford, a member of the European Parliament's intergroup on gay & lesbian rights, said:

"The Mayor's ostensible reason - that the cancellation was on security grounds as anti-gay protestors would violently disrupt the events - has recently been judged spurious by the European Court of Human Rights in regard to a gay parade ban in Poland. Since the Mayor also said "we disapprove of the public display of homosexualist ideas in the city of Vilnius", we can assume the real reason is prejudice."

After she got a standard 'we support human rights' answer from the German Europe minister at question time in Strasbourg, Sarah said:

"Considering that respect for human rights and non-discrimination are EU membership obligations, I regards as feeble in the extreme that the sole EU official reaction so far has been a European Commission statement that 'it highly regrets the decision to cancel the planned event'.

"There should be a reprimand if not sanctions. But Vilnius is actually being rewarded for its equalities mission by being the chosen site for the EU Gender Institute, which is laughable if not tragic."

Lithuania follows in the footsteps of Russia and Poland in banning an equalities parade, despite the Strasbourg Court's ruling that a ban is direct contravention of the freedom of assembly guarantees of the European Convention of Human Rights to which all three countries are signatories. Sarah Ludford has co-signed a letter to the mayor of Moscow about this year's parade (see below).

Notes

1) Text of Sarah Ludford's question to the EU Council:

As a reaction to the opposition to and attacks on some Gay Pride marches both inside and outside the EU in 2006, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on 16 June 2006 on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe. This resolution recalled that European States have a duty to allow such marches and to protect participants, and notably condemned the Russian authorities' decision to ban the first Gay Pride in Moscow on 27 May 2006.

With the season of Gay Pride marches now approaching, concerns arise regarding the effective protection of participants in EU Member States, while there is open opposition to the Moscow Gay Pride march taking place this year again.

What measures will the Council take to ensure that Member States' authorities effectively protect participants? How would any incident of intolerance of the LGBT community affect the Council's relationship with other governments?

2) In a bid to prevent a repeat of the scenes of violence against gay rights activists in Moscow last year, over 40 MEPs from 15 countries and 5 different political groups (15 of the MEPs being from the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe group) have signed an open letter to the Mayor calling on him to grant permission for the march to take place and ensure the safety of participants:

To the attention of Yuri LUZHKOV, Mayor of Moscow

Object: Open Letter to the Mayor of Moscow to authorise the "March in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia"

Brussels, 21 May 2007

Hon. Mayor,

According to the information we have, the "March in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia", to which we have adhered, has not yet received the necessary authorisation from your office. We write to you this Open Letter asking you to promptly authorise it, so that the planned March and events can take place without violence or disorders and that participants are properly protected by Russian authorities, hereby abiding the constitutional and human rights engagements they are bound to respect.

On the occasion of the 2006 LGBT Pride, Russian authorities had banned the March and the commemorations, which led to acts of violence perpetrated by extreme-right group and religious fundamentalists against the participants. According to declarations reported by the press, you have expressed your intention to ban the "March in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia" also this year, while the organisers are still waiting for an official answer on the request for authorisation for the events that will take place in the next days.

Freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom from discrimination are enshrined in international and Russian human rights law, on which democracies and the Rule of Law are based. Russian authorities are also bound by the Council of Europe and by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), as well as by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. We draw Russian authorities' attention to the fact that the Court of Strasbourg has recently and unanimously condemned in the case "Baczkowski and others v. Poland" an identical ban imposed by the Mayor of Warsaw on the 2005 Equality March in Poland as contrary to the ECHR, notably of its articles 11 (freedom of association and assembly), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination). The same Court has also repeatedly stated that authorities have a positive duty to properly protect participants from possible attacks and violent acts of counter-demonstrators.

Awaiting for an answer from you to the organisers of the event as well as to us participants concerning the authorisation of the "March in support for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia",