Subject: [or-world] Fwd: [E-Q] ILGA-EUROPE: CALL FOR URGENT ACTION! -
From: David <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:38:35 +0100

Council of Europe - lobbying campaign re Recommendations on lesbian and gay rights

>From: Nigel Warner <[email-masked]>
>Subject: [E-Q] ILGA-EUROPE: CALL FOR URGENT ACTION! - Council of Europe - 
>lobbying campaign re Recommendations on lesbian and gay rights
>Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 20:53:18 +0100
>
>PLEASE POST THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR LOCAL ACTIVIST E-MAIL LISTS!
>
>Dear friends,
>
>COUNCIL OF EUROPE - LOBBYING CAMPAIGN FOR THE END JUNE DEBATES IN THE
>PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON LESBIAN AND GAY ISSUES.
>
>[For background information on the Council of Europe, please see the end of
>this message]
>
>PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY! URGENT LOBBYING NEEDED TO ENSURE SUCCESS OF IMPORTANT
>VOTES AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE
>
>1. On Friday 30th June the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 
>will
>debate two historic recommendations:
>
>The first, entitled "SITUATION OF LESBIANS AND GAYS IN COUNCIL OF EUROPE 
>MEMBER
>STATES <http://stars.coe.fr/doc/doc00/edoc8755.htm>" [or
>http://stars.coe.fr/doc/doc00/fdoc8755.htm for the French version] calls on
>member states to take a number of positive actions, including:
>
>i. making sexual orientation a prohibited ground for discrimination,
>ii. revoking all laws making homosexual acts between consenting adults liable
>to criminal prosecution,
>iii. equalising age of consent laws,
>iv. ensuring equal treatment in employment,
>v. adopting legislation which provides for registered partnership.
>
>It also calls for sexual orientation to be added to the grounds for
>discrimination prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights.
>
>These recommendations are preceded by a hard-hitting preamble which 
>includes an
>attack on certain "politicians and religious leaders" who use homophobia "to
>justify the continued existence of discriminatory laws and, above all,
>aggressive or contemptuous attitudes."
>
>The second recommendation, entitled "SITUATION OF GAYS AND LESBIANS AND THEIR
>PARTNERS IN RESPECT OF ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE
>COUNCIL OF EUROPE <http://stars.coe.int/doc/doc00/edoc8654.htm>" [or
>http://stars.coe.int/doc/doc00/fdoc8654.htm for the French version] calls on
>member states to take a number of positive actions, including:
>i. Re-examining their asylum policies with a view to recognising as refugees
>homosexuals persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation,
>ii. Ensuring that bi-national lesbian and gay couples are accorded the same
>residence rights as bi-national heterosexual couples.
>
>The full text of the Recommendations, and of the accompanying Explanatory
>Memoranda, can be found at the Council of Europe's website - click on the 
>above
>links to see them.
>
>
>2. THESE RECOMMENDATIONS, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT STATEMENT
>ON LGB RIGHTS BY THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS. It may 
>well be
>a similar period of time before the Assembly returns to this subject in this
>detail. IT IS THEREFORE ESSENTIAL THAT EVERY EFFORT IS MADE TO ENSURE THAT
>THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE APPROVED AND NOT DILUTED BY HOSTILE AMENDMENTS.
>
>If successful, these Recommendations will represent a very important
>declaration by delegations from the parliaments of the 41 member states of 
>the
>Council of Europe, and are likely to influence the governments of member
>states.
>
>3. A Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly requires a majority of 
>66% to
>be successful.  We know this will be difficult to achieve. The opponents of
>lesbian, gay and bisexual rights at the Assembly are determined and
>well-organised. It is therefore essential that we persuade 
>parliamentarians who
>support us to be present for the debate. This is all the more important, 
>since
>the debate is scheduled to take place on the Friday, when many 
>parliamentarians
>will already be returning from Strasbourg to their homes.
>
>SO PLEASE WRITE A SHORT LETTER TO SUPPORTIVE MEMBERS OF YOUR NATIONAL
>DELEGATION IMMEDIATELY. The names and addresses of the members of your 
>national
>delegation can be found at the ILGA World website - click here
><http://www.ilga.org/Current activities/europe/Council of
>Europe/council_of_europe_.htm>
>
>If you do not have information on which parliamentarians are supportive, we
>recommend that you contact only parliamentarians from left of centre and 
>centre
>parties (these are shown separately in the list at the ILGA World 
>website).  We
>recommend that you do not contact right of centre politicians, unless you 
>know
>them to be supportive -- contacting those who are hostile could well be
>counter-productive.
>
>4. When you write to the supportive members of your national delegation, we
>suggest you make some of the following points:
>
>a. Discrimination, and sometimes even violence, remain serious problems for
>lesbians and gays, as is made clear in the Explanatory Memoranda which
>accompany the two draft Recommendations.
>b. The failure by so many countries to give legal recognition to same-sex
>partnerships is a serious form of discrimination which can cause considerable
>hardship for many couples.
>c. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that discrimination based on
>sexual orientation is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
>
>Stress that the Recommendations, if passed, will be of historic importance 
>for
>Europe's lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, and present a rare 
>opportunity
>for parliamentarians to demonstrate their support for the fundamental 
>rights of
>our community.
>
>Ask them to support the draft Recommendations, and to oppose any attempt to
>weaken them.
>
>Point out that the debates will take place on Friday 30th June, and ask that
>they specifically arrange to remain in Strasbourg that day.
>
>PLEASE ACT NOW!  THE SOONER YOU WRITE, THE BETTER THE CHANCE THAT MEMBERS OF
>YOUR COUNTRY'S DELEGATION WILL ARRANGE TO REMAIN IN STRASBOURG ON THE DAY OF
>THE DEBATE. Letters after approximately the 20th June will be too late.
>
>
>
>Note on the background and history of the Council of Europe
>
>The Council of Europe is Europe's main intergovernmental human rights
>organisation. With some 41 member states, covering nearly 800 million people,
>it has a most important role in promoting human rights.
>
>The Council of Europe was founded in the aftermath of the second world war,
>with the purpose of promoting respect for human rights in Europe, in the hope
>of preventing any repetition of the atrocities of that time.
>
>The Council of Europe has three main elements:
>
>The Committee of Ministers: this consists of the Foreign Ministers of the 41
>member states, and is the executive of the Council of Europe. It can make
>Recommendations to the member states, although these recommendations are not
>binding.
>
>The Parliamentary Assembly: this consists of delegates from the national
>parliaments of the member states.  There are approximately 300 
>Representatives,
>each of whom has a deputy. The sizew if delegations from individual countries
>depends on the population of those countries: the largest countries have
>eighteen representatives. The Parliamentary Assembly can make Recommendations
>to the Committee of Ministers.  If the Committee of Ministers does not 
>support
>such a Recommendation, then it is merely passed to the governments of member
>states for information. Nonetheless, such Recommendations are of considerable
>symbolic importance.
>
>The European Court of Human Rights: this consists of one judge from each 
>of the
>41 member states.  It rules on whether individual member states have violated
>the European Convention on Human Rights. Its judgements are binding on the
>member states.
>
>NB: The Council of Europe is not the same as the European Union!

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