EU Fundamental Rights Agency hold Dublin Meeting on LGBT rights
Posted by Maman Poulet on 08 Mar 2010 at 02:31 am | Tagged as: LGBT
A roundtable on LGBT Rights hosted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights is taking place tomorrow in Dublin.
FRA will bring together experts in LGBT rights in a roundtable meeting on 9 March in Dublin. These will include representatives of governments, cities, police, civil society organisations, academics, the European Commission and the Council of Europe. Under discussion will be ways to combat discrimination, bullying and harassment experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. The meeting will present good practice examples of combating bullying and harassment in schools, tackling hate crimes and ensuring safety for LGBT communities. It will also be an opportunity to review existing gaps in, and constraints upon, the development of long-term LGBT friendly policies, and to transfer knowledge and experience.
The agenda can be read here
Is it just me or did anyone else not know it was happening? Maybe someone is liveblogging it? Any of our esteemed local organisations telling anyone it’s happening?
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While I’m not working in this area _ I’d probably go insane working having endless meetings – it seems like activists talking to themselves (again!) Is this another form of silence about sexuality in Ireland when it should be broadcast loud and proud to flag up the serious problem of homophobia and the lack of ability of schools to deal such issues?
From a quick read-through, the agenda seems a bit catch-all of issues and I’m mystified as to how can this be seen as knowledge transfer when, as you suggest, people aren’t informed about it. Also, it sounds like this meeting is part of a series?
While policy development is crucial when mainstream politics is weak on ‘equality politics’, I would argue that a ‘policy appreciation’ session seems to maintain a lack of engagement with lived experience/ everyday life! You gotta start bridging the gap at some point… Panti (Rosanne’s new BFF!) does it wonderfully!
It is a small event, of about fifty people from across the EU. They are drawn from LGBT organisations, governments/administration, and researchers. The Fundamental Rights Agency liaised with the Irish Human Rights Commission in setting it up.
It is indeed part of a series, to assist the Fundamental Rights Agency build on its two research reports on homophobia and discrimination on sexual orientation:
http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/products/publications_reports/pub_cr_homophobia_0608_en.htm
http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/products/publications_reports/pub_cr_homophobia_p2_0309_en.htm
The focus of the meeting is specifically on two topics: homophobic bullying and hate crimes/hate speech.