The UN IE on SOGI is aware of the global nature of the damage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the crafting of efficient and effective solutions is connected to evidence-based understanding of the reasons why certain persons, communities or populations are at a disadvantage when facing its fallout and the impact of response or recovery measures taken by the State.

Center for Research and Development of society IDEAS in collaboration with ERA member Regional Info Center (RIC), have published their yearly LGBTI+ research, in order to collect data about te position of LGBTI+ persons. The goal of this research is in one hand to increase visibility of the challenges that LGBTI+ persons face every day, and in other hand provide important data for political and measure development in order to secure full respect of human rights of LGBTI+ persons.

This report is a summary of developments in the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia) and Turkey from January until December 2018. 

1. Background

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.

ERA’s Annual General Assembly is the biggest LGBTI event organized in the region since 2015. The conference is a lobby, advocacy, capacity building and visibility event which brings together more than 160 participants from across the region, Europe and beyond. LGBTI activists, state officials (governments, Parliaments, equality bodies etc.), donors, researchers, journalists, diplomatic community, representatives of international organizations and members of the local community attend the event.