Project description
Europe’s role in strengthening national responses to LGBT hate crimes
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are vulnerable to discrimination, bullying, harassment, verbal and even physical attacks. EU law guarantees equal treatment for all people regardless of their sexual orientation in the context of employment and vocational training. The right to equality and non-discrimination for all LGBT people is guaranteed. Southern and east European (SEE) countries with poor records in LGBT equality are imposing harsher penalties for anti-LGBT hate crimes. The EU-funded ENTER project will study the role of the EU and other bodies, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in strengthening national responses to hate crimes. It will conduct two case studies, one in Georgia and the other in North Macedonia. Both these SEE countries recently introduced anti-LGBT hate crime laws.
Objective
Countering violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is a priority for the European Commission, which recognises hate crimes as human rights violations. Increasing numbers of states are responding to this problem by imposing harsher penalties for anti-LGBT hate crimes. In Europe, such laws are being introduced in some South and East European (SEE) coun-tries with poor records in respect to LGBT equality. Most of them cannot, however, evidence that they actively use the new laws to prosecute hate crimes, which raises questions about their com-mitment and the factors behind the adoption of these laws. The introduction of anti-LGBT hate crime laws in some SEE countries follows the increasing attention paid to the issue at international level and coincides with the process of EU integration. It is unclear, however, what role, if any, bodies such as the European Union or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe play in strengthening national responses to hate crime. Using an innovative methodology, which combines interviews enhanced by diagrams as stimuli, analysis of policy documents and doctrinal analysis, this socio-legal research project will develop a theoretically transferable model explaining how, when and why SEE states address anti-LGBT hate crime. Specifically, the research will illuminate how various actors, including non-governmental organisations, civil servants, scholars and international bodies, contribute to the introduction and enforcement of anti-LGBT hate crime laws. The project will focus on the case studies of Georgia and North Macedonia, two SEE countries which share the re-cent introduction of anti-LGBT hate crime laws but differ in the degree of enforcement. By borrowing from social movement theories and theories of Europeanisation, the research will address a global policy problem, as well as gaps in scholarship, by deepening our understanding of how, when and why states address anti-LGBT violence.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium