Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Index & Maps 2020

Today Transgender Europe (TGEU) have today released their Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Index & Maps for 2020.

The Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Index provides detailed information on the legal situation of all 47 Council of Europe member States and five Central Asian countries. The Index covers a total of 30 indicators in six legal categories: legal gender recognition, asylum, bias-motivated speech and violence, non-discrimination, health, and family.

The Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Maps focus specifically on two legal gender recognition (LGR) indicators that stigmatise and violate the rights of trans people: forced sterilisation and mandatory mental health diagnosis. Each of the respective maps illustrates which countries demand these problematic LGR requirements.

Collectively, the Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Index & Maps reflect the current legal situation in countries throughout the region based on consultation from in-country experts as of 10 May 2020. Please note the Index and related maps do not claim to exhaustively portray the complex legal and social contexts that trans people live in. 

Trans & intersex rights in Hungary are under threat

On this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility, the Hungarian government tabled legislation which would end legal gender recognition for trans and intersex people in Hungary, as part of a wider emergency Covid response.

The ruling Fidesz party proposed on Tuesday to change the law so that birth, marriage and death certificates show "sex at birth" - reversing a policy that allowed trans people to change their legal sex to match the gender in which they live. Many international human rights organisations and LGBT civil society groups have condemned the proposed law. It is unknown the exact timing for the vote at this stage.

More information below:

• Joint letter to Prime Minister Orbán from ILGA-Europe, TGEU and OII Europe: https://oiieurope.org/letter-to-hungarian-prime-minister-viktor-orban-in-regards-to-article-33-of-the-proposed-omnibus-bill-2020/.

• Letter from UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25172.

• Statement from the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup: https://lgbti-ep.eu/2020/04/02/latest-move-by-fidesz-is-a-deliberate-attack-against-the-hungarian-trans-community/ (EN) and (HU) .

• Hungarian news website index.hu: https://index.hu/english/2020/04/01/hungary_gender_at_birth_transgender_rights/.

• Statement from Hungarian trans organisation Transvanilla: http://transvanilla.hu/home/news/hungarian-government-bans-legal-gender-recognition.

• Statement from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović: https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerHR/posts/1512688642240374.

• Statement from Hungarian NGOs (in Hungarian): https://budapestpride.hu/hirek/vonjak-vissza-a-transznemueket-ellehetetlenito-torvenyjavaslatot.

• Early Day Motion tabled by Stephen Farry MP: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/56887/emergency-powers-in-hungary.

• ILGA Europe’s Drop 33 Social Media Campaign: https://twitter.com/hashtag/drop33?src=hashtag_click.

Baroness Barker introduces Private Member's Bill to abolish spousal veto

Today our Vice-Chair Baroness Barker has submitted a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Lords which seeks to abolish the unjust “spousal veto” which prevents transgender married people from having their gender legally recognised without the consent of their spouse.