ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey in close part

In December of 2014 at the Conference The Effect of EU Integration Process on Human Rights of LGBT People, which was organised in Banja Luka, LGBT activists from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro have discussed the advancement of human rights of LGBT people in the context of EU integration process. This process has a great influence on all the countries of the region.

Based on data from 133 countries from 1990 to 2014 this report from the Williams Institute examines whether there is a connection between the level of acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and the level of inclusiveness of a country's law.

Newspaper articles about trans people are often sensational and contribute to a construction of a negative stereotype about trans people and the trans community. With a proper use of language and a different approach, which shows respect and protects the privicy and dignity of trans people, journalists can help to change the situation.

Since the Yogyakarta Principles were adopted in 2006, they have developed into an authoritative statement of the human rights of persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. The period since then has seen significant developments in the field of international human rights law and in the understanding of violations affecting persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities as well as a recognition of the often distinct violations affecting persons on grounds of gender expression and sex characteristics.

Thanks to the sustained efforts of civil society and supportive United Nations (UN) Member States, human rights violations based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics (SOGIESC) have received increased attention at the international level in recent years. Since 2010, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) has adopted three resolutions on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity.

In its much-awaited ruling in the case of Coman, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that the term “spouse” for the purpose of the grant of family reunification rights under EU free movement law, includes the same-sex spouse of a Union citizen who has exercised EU free movement rights.