From: steff@inet.uni2.dk Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 19:37:18 +0100 (MET) Subject: [euroletter] PRESS RELEASE from ILGA-Europe 20th ILGA-Europe Conference successfully concluded Sunday 25 October 1998, the 20th ILGA-Europe conference concluded in Linz, Austria. 100 delegates from 26 European countries participated in the annual convention organised and hosted this year by Homosexuelle Initiative(HOSI)Linz. In the four-day conference, ILGA-Europe discussed new actions and lobbying activities in respect of the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE as well as activities to increase the visibility and development of the organisation. In response to the award to ILGA-Europe of consultative status with the Council of Europe last January, an Action Plan was developed which includes lobbying for explicit reference to `sexual orientation' in the expected new broadened Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights currently under preparation. ILGA-Europe also approved a Europe-wide campaign to screen all candidates in the 1999 election for the post of secretary-general of the Council of Europe with regard to their record concerning sexual orientation discrimination. It will campaign against the nomination of any candidate who has a record of opposing the implementation of measures which are in line with the human rights standards of the Council of Europe, and will therefore oppose the nomination of Walter Schwimmer, who has repeatedly voted in the Austrian parliament against measures to grant fundamental human rights to lesbians and gays. ILGA-Europe will carry on with the implementation of its work programme directed at the European Union, including further involvement in the working of the European Parliament Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians Intergroup and lobbying for a draft directive on equal treatment of lesbians and gay men as a measure to implement Article 13 TEC as amended by the Amsterdam Treaty. The Conference agreed that ILGA-Europe and its member organisations should continue to develop their co-operation with other human rights and social NGOs both on the European and the national levels. A series of important Austrian politicians addressed the conference.Federal President Thomas Klestil sent a message of greeting to the delegates, and Federal Chancellor Viktor Klima took on the honorary patronage of the conference. Federal Minister of Women's Affairs, Barbara Prammer, addressed the conference on behalf of the Chancellor during the reception given by the Minister President of Upper Austria and the Lord Mayor of Linz on 21 October. Three members of the Austrian Parliament, from the Social Democratic, the Liberal and the Green Parties, gave speeches in the opening ceremony. Another Social Democratic member of the Austrian Parliament spoke at the ceremony held on 23 October in the former concentration camp of Mauthausen to commemorate the gay and lesbian victims of nazi terror. The host organisation, HOSI Linz, through an extensive scholarship programme, enabled the participation of many delegates from Central and Eastern European countries. This resulted in the highest ever percentage of delegates from this part of Europe in an ILGA European or World conference. Participants from Albania took part for the first time. Viareggio in Italy was selected as the venue for the 1999 conference, the host organisation being Arcigay Pride! of Pisa. Bucharest was tentatively chosen as the venue for the year 2000. A new executive board of ILGA-Europe was also elected, its members being: Jackie Lewis (UNISON, UK), Maren Wuch (lglf, Cologne, Germany), Nico Beger (Lesbian caucus in the Green Party, Germany), Tatjana Greif (SKUC-Lesbian Group, Ljubljana, Slovenia), Adrian Coman (ACCEPT, Bucharest), Alberto Volpato Egalite), Kurt Krickler (HOSI Wien, Austria) and Steffen Jensen (LBL, Denmark). ILGA-Europe is the European regional organisation of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, a federation of around 400 member groups in more than 75 countries in the World. More information is available via email: ieboard@makelist.com or from: Jackie Lewis, phone: +44-171 926 4771 Kurt Krickler, phone: +43-1-545 13 10 Nico Beger, phone: +49-551-486 521 Steffen Jensen, phone: +45-2033 0840 ______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe, unsubscribe, opt for a daily digest, or start a new e-group at http://www.eGroups.com -- Free Web-based e-mail groups.