As civil society organisations were invited to send their recommendations in advance, and to discuss them at a roundtable on 28 June, ILGA-Europe was particularly active. The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) had invited us to speak at one of the roundtable’s panels dedicated to hate crime, and to join the working group in charge of editing the final recommendations.
NGOs had other ways to have their say, and ILGA-Europe, together with other LGBT organisations, made a number of interventions during the conference’s relevant sessions: combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination; the role of legislation, law enforcement, data collection and civil society in combating and preventing intolerance and discrimination; the role of education to promote mutual understanding and respect for diversity; and addressing public manifestations of intolerance. As this high-level conference was organised in Kazakhstan by the 2010 Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE, it was also a unique opportunity to help the local LGBT partners of the PRECIS project, Amulet (Kazakhstan) and Labrys, (Kyrgyzstan) to gain visibility. To that end ILGA-Europe organized a side event on the situation of LGBT people in Central Asia, which was attended by other NGOs and members of diplomatic delegations. ILGA-Europe, Amulet, COC Netherlands and Labrys also had a number of meetings with various national delegations: Belgium, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. The final declaration of the conference, delivered by the Kazakh Chairperson-in-Office, makes no reference to LGBT fundamental rights, which was unsurprising, given that the OSCE decision-making is by the unanimous consensus of the 56 participating states. On a positive note, ILGA-Europe notes that the United States, as well as a growing number of European States, including the European Union’s Spanish Presidency, now ensure they mention LGBT fundamental rights in relevant interventions.
ILGA-Europe
