This is the fifth annual report on the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The five chapters look at the key building blocks of democratic security: efficient, impartial and independent judiciaries; freedom of expression; freedom of assembly and freedom of association; democratic institutions; and inclusive societies.
Month: May 2018
Recent reports that Northern Ireland has reached ‘effectively full employment’ is good news. However, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland‘s Statement on Key Inequalities in Northern Ireland strikes a cautionary note.
The 2017 Annual Report of the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights highlights the main tasks of the Centre throughout last year.

Each year on 17 May, the international community celebrates the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT). While it is a day of celebration of the vast diversity of people’s sexualities, gender identities and sex characteristics, and of the legal and social advances concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in the past two decades, it is also a day to raise awareness on existing widespread discrimination and violence in many countries. As in previous years, this article explains the importance of IDAHOT, the highlights of this day and the contribution of equality bodies to the advancement of equality and non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity to date.

The 2018 Rainbow Europe package, launched by ILGA-Europe on 14 May, provides real evidence that progress on LGBTI equality law and policy is slowing down in Europe.

A study visit of the Albanian Commissioner for the Protection from Discrimination (CPD) office, Ombudsman/People’s Advocate office and Ministry of Health and Social Protection to Brussels, Belgium took place from 7 to 9 May 2018.
Funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, they got to meet with Equinet on the last day.
The Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson in Lithuania just started the “Price Has No Gender” campaign to raise awareness about the fact that the same beauty and leisure services are priced differently for women and men, even though it is against equal treatment laws in Lithuania.
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5 May: European Independent Living Day

The European disability community celebrates the annual Independent Living Day on 5th May.