.
Dear Mayor,
Appeal to Mayors of European cities “On freedom of assembly and expression for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people”
I am writing on behalf of ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian
and Gay Association (ILGA) asking you to support our campaign and sign an appeal by
Mayors of European cities.
ILGA-Europe works towards equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people at European level. As you most probably know, during the past
few years the freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people has been seriously
compromised and/or violated in a number of European cities where peaceful and public
demonstrations and pride events by LGBT people and their supporters were banned and
participants of these events experienced humiliation, abuse and even violence.
Serious concerns regarding the violations of the right to freedom of assembly and
expression for LGBT people have been expressed by various international
intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations such as the European Union, the
Council of Europe, the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch and many others.
Many Mayors of European Cities have also expressed their concerns and called on their
colleagues in other European cities to ensure LGBT residents and guests of their cities fully
enjoy the rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
On 28 March 2007, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of
Europe, which is one of the main European forums for the representatives of local and
regional authorities, adopted a “Resolution on freedom of assembly and expression for
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons” in which it “strongly condemns
violations of the right to freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people and draws a
number of guidelines and practical recommendations for the local authorities on how to
prevent such violations and ensure the rights to freedom of assembly and expression
are enjoyed by all irrespective of sexual orientation and/or gender identity”.1
ILGA-Europe has been working on this issue by providing our members as well as
organisers of LGBT demonstrations and pride events across Europe with information
and knowledge on the observation and monitoring of human rights violations and the use
of such evidence during litigations. Most notably, we published two practical documents:
Handbook of Observations of Pride Marches and Toolkit for Pride Organising in a Hostile
Environment. We also compiled detailed accounts on violations of LGBT people’s rights
to freedom of assembly and expression in a number of countries and raised the issues
with various European organisations and their institutions.2
As the Pride event season in Europe is approaching, ILGA-Europe is seriously
concerned that despite a wide international and European condemnation of bans on
pride events and other public demonstrations by LGBT people and their supporters,
some Mayors and local authorities in Europe will continue to discriminate and will ban or
restrict the rights of freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people. That is why
we are appealing to all Mayors of European cities. We sincerely hope that you will
support our campaign and sign it.
We would appreciate it if you would join and sign our appeal by 17 May 2007. As most
LGBT pride events start in May, we are planning to announce the signatories and send
the appeal to the Mayors of those European cities where rights of LGBT people have
been violated on 17 May, the International Day against Homophobia. However the
appeal will be open for signing throughout the summer of 2007.
You can confirm your signature by sending a confirmation letter or e-mail to:
Juris Lavrikovs
ILGA-Europe’s Information and Communications Officer
juris@ilga-europe.org
Appeal to Mayors of European cities “On freedom of assembly and expression for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people”
I am writing on behalf of ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian
and Gay Association (ILGA) asking you to support our campaign and sign an appeal by
Mayors of European cities.
ILGA-Europe works towards equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people at European level. As you most probably know, during the past
few years the freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people has been seriously
compromised and/or violated in a number of European cities where peaceful and public
demonstrations and pride events by LGBT people and their supporters were banned and
participants of these events experienced humiliation, abuse and even violence.
Serious concerns regarding the violations of the right to freedom of assembly and
expression for LGBT people have been expressed by various international
intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations such as the European Union, the
Council of Europe, the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch and many others.
Many Mayors of European Cities have also expressed their concerns and called on their
colleagues in other European cities to ensure LGBT residents and guests of their cities fully
enjoy the rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
On 28 March 2007, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of
Europe, which is one of the main European forums for the representatives of local and
regional authorities, adopted a “Resolution on freedom of assembly and expression for
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons” in which it “strongly condemns
violations of the right to freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people and draws a
number of guidelines and practical recommendations for the local authorities on how to
prevent such violations and ensure the rights to freedom of assembly and expression
are enjoyed by all irrespective of sexual orientation and/or gender identity”.1
ILGA-Europe has been working on this issue by providing our members as well as
organisers of LGBT demonstrations and pride events across Europe with information
and knowledge on the observation and monitoring of human rights violations and the use
of such evidence during litigations. Most notably, we published two practical documents:
Handbook of Observations of Pride Marches and Toolkit for Pride Organising in a Hostile
Environment. We also compiled detailed accounts on violations of LGBT people’s rights
to freedom of assembly and expression in a number of countries and raised the issues
with various European organisations and their institutions.2
As the Pride event season in Europe is approaching, ILGA-Europe is seriously
concerned that despite a wide international and European condemnation of bans on
pride events and other public demonstrations by LGBT people and their supporters,
some Mayors and local authorities in Europe will continue to discriminate and will ban or
restrict the rights of freedom of assembly and expression for LGBT people. That is why
we are appealing to all Mayors of European cities. We sincerely hope that you will
support our campaign and sign it.
We would appreciate it if you would join and sign our appeal by 17 May 2007. As most
LGBT pride events start in May, we are planning to announce the signatories and send
the appeal to the Mayors of those European cities where rights of LGBT people have
been violated on 17 May, the International Day against Homophobia. However the
appeal will be open for signing throughout the summer of 2007.
You can confirm your signature by sending a confirmation letter or e-mail to:
Juris Lavrikovs
ILGA-Europe’s Information and Communications Officer
juris@ilga-europe.org
We also encourage the signatories to provide their individual messages which will be
displayed on our campaign website and available to our members and the media.
Thanking you in advance for your solidarity and support!
Yours sincerely,
Patricia Prendiville
Executive Director of ILGA-Europe
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