News for March, 2014

Kyrgyzstan flag

Kyrgyz Parliament considering homophobic ‘anti-propaganda’ law

On March 26, the Kyrgyz Parliament published a draft bill, proposing to impose tough sanctions for anyone speaking or acting in a way that creates “a positive attitude toward nontraditional sexual relations”.

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Posted in: Press releases, Recent news on March 31st, 2014
The Court of Justice of the European Union CJEU

Court of Justice: EU law does not guarantee maternity leave for mothers using surrogacy

Yesterday, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that women who become mothers via surrogacy do not have an automatic right to maternity leave under EU law. However, the court stressed that Member States are free to provide … 
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Posted in: Press releases, Recent news on March 19th, 2014
Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos II

MEPs condemn homophobic statements by the Archbishop of Cyprus

At the Council of the Heads of the Christian Orthodox Church held in Istanbul last week, Cyprus’ Archbishop Chrysostomos urged all Orthodox Churches to “condemn homosexuality.”

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Posted in: Press releases, Recent news on March 17th, 2014
10 years of LGBT rights

Summary: 2009-2019, 10 years of LGBT rights: Successes, Failures, Challenges

On 5 March, the LGBT Intergroup held a seminar “10 years of LGBT rights: Successes, failures, challenges.” Under the chairing of Ulrike Lunacek, Co-President of the LGBT Intergroup, civil society representatives, MEPs and the EEAS discussed both concrete achievements of the last five years, and issues to be tackled after the 2014 elections.

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Posted in: Intergroup documents, Recent news on March 14th, 2014
Illustration during votes

Plenary summary: Progress report Turkey; UN Human Rights Council

The Strasbourg week is over, so it is time for a plenary update. Apart from passing the data protection package, which includes important privacy measures for LGBT people, and a resolution calling for measures against Nigeria and Uganda, Parliament adopted the progress report on Turkey and voted the EU priorities for the UN Human Rights Council.

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Posted in: Parliamentary work, Recent news on March 14th, 2014
ACP-EU

Uganda and Nigeria: European Parliament calls for targeted sanctions over new laws

This afternoon Parliament adopted a strong resolution [LINK] condemning the Nigerian and Ugandan anti-LGBT laws, and calling on the Commission and Council to for immediate action, with the possibility to suspend political relations with the two countries.

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Posted in: Press releases, Recent news on March 13th, 2014
Data protection

New EU data protection law: MEPs want to protect LGBT people’s privacy

Today, the European Parliament adopted two new laws at first reading to reform data protection in the European Union. Until now, the EU regulated data protection via a 1995 directive, ill fitted for the modern omnipresence of personal data. The European Commission proposed a new EU framework in the form of two legal texts: a directive and a regulation.

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Posted in: Press releases, Recent news on March 12th, 2014