Back Empowering transgender community in Armenia to facilitate their access to justice

Empowering transgender community in Armenia to facilitate their access to justice

The transgender community faces marginalization in Armenia and is often exposed to discrimination, hate speech and hate crime, according to the data available and personal reporting in the country.

The Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO, organised the training course "Human Rights in Touch with Tomorrow" in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia on 15-18 March. The training involved 20 young transgender people from Armenia where the topic access to justice for the transgender community was dealt.

A safe platform was created during this training course to enable young transgender community representatives learn more about self-protection mechanisms from hate speech, hate crimes and discrimination. As a result, the participants are now:

  • better equipped with advocacy and campaigning skills for human rights and equality,
  • able to establish dialogue and alliances between the transgender community and non-governmental organisation (NGO) representatives in order to combat discrimination more effectively through joint cooperation and active civic participation.

The training course will be followed by four activities, such as:

  • A one-month lasting activity involving participants of the transgender community, who plan to visit ten regions in Armenia for awareness rising actions on hate speech, hate crime and discrimination faced by transgender people.
  • “Community and activism” one-day meeting with the 16 transgender people from different NGOs working in the field.
  • “ My Rights Matter Too” social video advertisement on the International Transgender Day of Visibility on the 31 March.
  • “What is transgender” 200 copies of a booklet on gender identity in the Armenian language will be developed and distributed among transphobic people.

The Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO considers this project as a step forward to increase the well-being, harmonious and secure life of transgender people and to contribute to the strengthening of democracy and equality in Armenia.

This training course was implemented as part of the project of the Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO, through the project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance (2019-2021).

Armenia 24 March 2021
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Strasbourg, France Strasbourg, 1-2 July 2024
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Addressing hate speech and hate crime: regional gathering of the network of Equality Bodies from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership Region

A two-day workshop on addressing hate speech and hate crime took place at the premises of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, involving Equality bodies from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership regions.  The event supported by the EU and Council of Europe, gathered 50 representatives from both regions who discussed and exchanged on the best practices, measures and common challenges when addressing hate speech and hate crime. Through monitoring and reporting, policy advocacy, raising awareness and supporting victims equality bodies play a fundamental role in protecting human rights and ensuring that all individuals are treated equally.

In her opening remarks, Angela Longo, Head of Anti-discrimination Co-operation Unit, Council of Europe, underlined the significant progress in engaging with Equality Bodies through this network, regularly exchanging best practices and addressing the challenges of hatred and intolerance in societies. She highlighted that this new chapter of discussion delves into the grey area between hate speech and hate crime, addressing issues of incitement and biases,

Representatives from Equality Bodies had the opportunity to discuss and enhance their knowledge on the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers Recommendation to member States on combating hate crime, adopted on 7th May 2024, as well as gain a clearer understanding of EU standards in the field of hate crime. Moreover, participants engaged in exchanges with peers from the Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE), who shared insights on addressing hate speech in the public discourse. The National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) in Italy provided practical examples for developing counter-narratives and raising awareness initiatives.

They also explored opportunities to advocate for legislative reform, foster multisectoral co-operation, enhance data collection, and overall improve national mechanisms to counter hate crimes.

This seminar was organised within the action “Promoting equality and combating racism and intolerance in the Western Balkans” and the project “Promoting equality and non-discrimination: towards more resilient and inclusive societies” – co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe  under the joint Programmes “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and “Partnership for Good Governance”.

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