ILGA Pledge for European Elections 2009

I have signed up as a European Parliamentary Candidate for London to the International Gay & Lesbian Association's Pledge to promote equality and to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The Greens in the European Parliament have a record second to none and it is interesting when looking at which countries and which parties have signed up that the Greens across Europe are very much in the lead. Disappointing to see that so few candidates so far have signed up from the Eastern European states which joined the EU in 2004 or from Bulgaria and Romania. However, I can vouch for the fact that the Polish Greens and the Green parties in countries such as Romania are campaignig strongly on LGBT issues and against discrimination. They often have to operate in difficutlt circumstances and deserve all our support.





You can follow who has signed up here http://www.ilga-europe.org/europe/campaigns_projects/ep2009/map

Also interesting to see who has the best record on LGBT issues in the European Parliament.

http://www.ilga-europe.org/europe/campaigns_projects/ep2009/what_can_you_do/get_to_know_the_candidates_and_their_position_on_human_rights_and_lgbt_issues/summary_of_voting_records_of_members_of_the_












ILGA-Europe is calling upon candidates for the European Parliament elections 2009 to sign this pledge to promote equality and to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in their role as member of the European Parliament.

ILGA-Europe’s 2009 European Election Pledge summarises the key issues that we want to see advanced at the EU level over the next five years. These are:



1. Adopting ambitious EU legislation on equal treatmentI pledge to continue to support and to actively work towards the adoption of an EU multi-ground anti-discrimination directive as an essential step in ending the hierarchy of rights.



2. Ensuring the right to free movement in the EU for LGBT peopleI pledge to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are able to exercise their right to free movement in the EU with their families, including by closely monitoring the implementation of the Freedom of Movement Directive and by supporting measures to increase mutual recognition of partnerships.



3. Increasing explicit recognition of transgender people’s rightsI pledge to call for explicit recognition of the rights of transgender people in EU law, including by ensuring adequate coverage of transgender people in future EU gender equality legislation and policy and by closely monitoring implementation of the Gender Equality Directives with regard to their coverage of transgender people.



4. Combating homophobia and transphobia through criminal lawI pledge to call for a Framework Decision on homophobic and transphobic violence, hate crime and hate speech following the recommendation issued in the legal study on homophobia of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.



5. Promoting an inclusive definition of familyI pledge to promote a definition of family which recognises the diversity of family relationships, and to ensure that the needs of LGBT families are increasingly reflected in EU policy and legislation (e.g. the Parental Leave Directive).



6. Acting as the EU’s fundamental rights watchdog, including on LGBT rightsI pledge to hold EU Member States accountable to their human rights commitments and to be a voice against human rights violations targeting LGBT people in the EU (e.g. freedom of assembly, asylum of people at risk of persecution).



7. Protecting LGBT rights in Europe beyond the EUI pledge to promote the human rights of LGBT people within the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU Central Asia indicative programmes and Enlargement through political dialogue and recommending adoption of inclusive anti-discrimination laws.



8. Protecting LGBT rights in the worldI pledge to support Parliament resolutions and actions condemning human rights violations against LGBT people outside the EU and calling for the end of criminalisation of homosexuality.



9. Calling for an explicit commitment to fundamental rights from the new EU CommissionI pledge to prioritise the commitment to fundamental rights and equality in the approval of the new European Commission and to call for an explicit expression of this commitment by all the members of the EU Commission.



10. Ongoing commitment to the EU agenda in the area of non-discrimination and equalityI pledge to support programmes that ensure continued EU funding for effective and necessary action to combat discrimination and promote equality on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.