The European Union has announced that it will be taking legal action against the governments of Hungary and Poland over measures which discriminate against their respective LGBTQ communities.<\/p>\n
The European Commission, considered the \u201cguardian of the treaties\u201d, has the power to thoroughly investigate any alleged infringements by member states. The cases could eventually end up in the European Court of Justice, the EU\u2019s highest court, which could exact considerable financial penalties.<\/p>\n
The move is part of an ongoing fight against LGBTQ discrimination in Hungary and Poland, where traditionalism and conservatism takes precedent over progressive contemporary values.<\/p>\n
The case against Hungary is based on the recent ratification of its so-called \u201canti-paedophilia\u201d law which includes provisions banning the \u201cpromotion\u201d of homosexuality and gender reassignement in under 18s. The new legislation also outlaws the dissemination in schools of content judged to \u201cpromote homosexuality and gender change\u201d, with gay people now barred from featuring in educational material or TV shows for under-18s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis law uses the protection of children, to which we are all committed, as an excuse to severely discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. This law is disgraceful,\u201d said European Commission President, Ursula Von Der Leyen, promising to use \u201call powers available\u201d to get Hungary to revoke or modify the law.<\/p>\n
Human rights experts have been united in their belief that it will bring about further persecution and discrimination against the already stigmatised LGBTQ community in Hungary. Nick Herbert, Britain\u2019s first Special Envoy on LGBT+ Rights, said that the law is \u201ccompletely unacceptable\u201d, adding that:<\/p>\n
\u201cit\u2019s very concerning that European countries should be going backwards like this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hungarian authorities have said that the passage of the law is purely based on preserving \u201ctraditional values\u201d, though many have suggested that incumbent prime minister, Viktor Orban, may be trying appeal to his markedly conservative base ahead of elections next spring.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Twitter, Hungarian justice minister Judit Varga, said that \u201cEU institutions put strong pressure on Hungary to admit LGBTQ activists to Hungarian schools and kindergartens,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to force us to let sexual propaganda spread among our children\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Poland<\/h2>\n
The case against Poland is mostly based on the existence of \u201cLGBTQ ideology free zones\u201d throughout much of the country\u2019s traditionally catholic east and southeastern regions.<\/p>\n
Around 100 towns and regions have adopted \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d resolutions, declaring themselves free of so-called \u201cLGBTQ ideology.\u201d Though they are not enforceable and have no legal ramifications, right experts have repeatedly warned that they encourage hate crime and spur violence.<\/p>\n
A report published by the Council of Europe in February of this year found that “these cities and regions make up a third of all Poland so the impact on LGBTI people is not negligible,”<\/p>\n
\u201cresolutions are part of a broader attack against the LGBT community in Poland, which include growing hate speech by public and elected officials and public media.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In a statement released on their website, the European Commission said they were \u201cconcerned that these declarations may violate EU law regarding non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, adding that they believe \u201cPolish authorities failed to fully and appropriately respond to its inquiry regarding the nature and impact of the so-called \u2018LGBT-ideology free zones’ resolutions adopted by several Polish regions and municipalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite this, in June the Polish government denied having any laws which permitted discrimination based on sexual orientation.<\/p>\n
Both countries now have two months to respond to the arguments presented by the European Commission before they are officially referred to the European Court of Justice and face legal action.<\/p>\n
The post European Union launches legal action against Hungary and Poland over LGBTQ rights abuses<\/a> appeared first on International Observatory of Human Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
This post was originally published on International Observatory of Human Rights<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Union has announced that it will be taking legal action against the governments of Hungary and Poland over measures which discriminate against their respective LGBTQ communities. The European Commission, considered the \u201cguardian of the treaties\u201d, has the power to thoroughly investigate any alleged infringements by member states. The cases could eventually end up\u2026<\/p>\n
The post European Union launches legal action against Hungary and Poland over LGBTQ rights abuses<\/a> appeared first on International Observatory of Human Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":485,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/485"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241636,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241635\/revisions\/241636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}