Debate: Rising anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric and violence: recent attacks in Thessaloniki
Date: WEDNESDAY, 13 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

These alarming incidents within our Union pose a direct threat to the very fabric of our societies founded on principles of equality and respect. In recent years, we have witnessed a disturbing rise in hate speech and hate crimes targeting LGBTIQ people as well as organisations advocating for LGBTIQ rights, both globally and within the European Union. According to the latest data, trans and intersex people continue to face disproportionate levels of stigma and violence. The Fundamental Rights Agency’s 2019 LGBTI survey found that one in ten LGBTI respondents in the European Union reported experiencing physical or sexual attacks because of their identity. Trans and intersex respondents faced even higher rates of violence. The European Commission remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring that you can be who you are, love who you want without fear of discrimination or violence. Four years ago, we took a determined step forward with the adoption of the first ever Commission LGBTIQ Equality Strategy. This comprehensive strategy combines targeted initiatives with the mainstreaming of LGBTIQ equality across all policy domains. Under this strategy, the Commission acted to address fragmentation in the criminalisation of hate speech and to ensure effective protection of all victims of hate speech and hate crimes across the European Union, including LGBTIQ people. In December 2021, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council decision to include hate speech and hate crime in the list of European Union crimes in Article 83 of the Treaty. After more than two years, the Council has not yet reached the needed unanimity to adopt its decision, which is necessary for the Commission to be able to propose a common legal framework to criminalise hate speech and hate crime. I thank the European Parliament for its commitment in support of this initiative. The Commission also called for a swift adoption of the proposal in its joint communication that we called ‘No place for hate’, which represents a strong commitment to reinforce the European Union policy response to hatred in all its forms, including against LGBTIQ individuals. Moreover, the Commission works jointly with the tech industry and other relevant stakeholders to counter hateful content online through the European Union Internet Forum. In 2023, the Forum published a handbook on borderline content to guide tech companies to identify such content, including when targeting LGBTIQ people. The establishment of the High Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime in 2016 provides a platform for exchange among national authorities and focusing on victim support, law enforcement training and data collection.  To face the challenges of online hatred, the Commission initiated a voluntary code of conduct with the major social media platforms. We are in the process of revising the code to ensure it enhances its preventive capacity to respond to threats of hatred before it goes viral.  And that the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, the Commission continues to allocate funding to combat hate crime and aid speech while promoting LGBTIQ equality. One example is our support to a project implemented by the Council of Europe on combating anti-LGBTIQ violence and hate speech, strengthening awareness-raising and fact-based narratives. Equality bodies in the Member States, they have a crucial role in addressing discrimination. That is why we have proposed legislation to establish binding standards for these bodies and strengthen their independence and powers. The new rules will ensure that discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation falls squarely within the mandate of equality bodies in all Member States. We welcome the agreement on this legislation and your support for its swift adoption. Honourable Members, as emphasised by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union address last year, it is the moment to show in reality that we can build a Europe where you can be who you are, love who you want and aim as high as you want. Together we can make this vision for Europe a reality.