Harassment of LGBTI children must have no place in schools, says Secretary General
In the run-up to the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia marked on 17 May, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland spoke out against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools in Europe, a grave and often disregarded problem.
“Homophobic and transphobic name-calling, bullying and harassment of LGBTI children have a serious effect on their well-being – and at times a tragic ending. They must have no place in our schools,” Secretary General said. “It is a duty of governments, school administration and teachers, parents – all of us, adults, to make sure that our children can study in a safe environment, free from violence, bullying and discrimination on all grounds, including their sexual orientation or gender identity. No child in Europe should become a victim of discriminatory and degrading treatment.” (more...)
Извор: Совет на Европа – 13.05.2016
IDRC – Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Norwegian Refugee Council
Direct Link to Full 106-Page 2016 Report:
Committee of Ministers Strasbourg 12 May 2016
A new set of recommendations to the Council of Europe member states on the removal, storage and use of biological materials for research purposes was adopted by the Committee of Ministers yesterday.
It takes into account new developments in the field of biobanking, such as the increasingly diverse origin of biological materials stored in collections, the difficulty to guarantee non-identifiability of such samples, the increasing amount of research involving materials coming from different collections, and the importance of research on biomaterials removed from persons not able to consent.
Biomedical research on materials of human origin is a powerful tool to improve human health and healthcare systems, the new legal instrument acknowledges, and the development of collections and cross-border flow of such research materials is increasing. However, this raises questions of the risk for private life of the persons concerned, as well as of the autonomy that these individuals have over their biological materials once they have been removed. (more...)
Извор: Совет на Европа – 12.05.2016
GENEVA (12 May 2016) – Speaking ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on 17 May, a group of United Nations and international human rights experts* call for an urgent end to the pathologization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) adults and children.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a group of UN human rights experts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe urge Governments worldwide to reform medical classifications and to adopt measures to prevent all forms of forced treatments and procedures on LGBT persons.
“Pathologization of LGBT adults and children - branding them as ill based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression - has historically been, and continues to be, one of the root causes behind the human rights violations that they face. It is also an obstacle to overcoming negative attitudes, stereotypes, and the multiple barriers for the realization of LGBT people’ s most fundamental human rights.
The Council of Europe has just published a new handbook on a human rights based approach to promote “intercultural mediation” in Roma communities.
The 127-page ROMED1 Trainers’ handbook is based on five years of work from the Council of Europe and European Commission joint initiative “ROMED1 programme – Intercultural mediation for Roma communities”.
To achieve integration and social cohesion, mediation is essential to bridge gaps between Roma communities and public institutions, such as schools and health facilities, but it also increases links between local and regional administrations and Roma communities.
