From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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The Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, Roderic O’Gorman, will open the Council of Europe Roundtable on the ‘‘right to life, security and protection from violence: combatting SOGIESC-based hate crime across Europe”, organised under Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of Europe, today 27 October 2022 in Iveagh House.
The European Roundtable, coordinated by the Council of Europe’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit, forms an integral part of the annual thematic review of the work of the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion. It will bring together member states, international NGOs, academics and other key stakeholders to share best practice and solutions on combatting “Hate crimes” and other “hate-motivated incidents”’.
It is expected that the forum will provide opportunities to further intergovernmental cooperation and to share examples of promising practices on combatting SOGIESC-based hate crime which will contribute to European wide standards and inform national measures.
Speaking ahead of his address, Minister O’Gorman said:
“At the core of Ireland’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, is a recommitment to the institution’s ‘Founding Freedoms’. Above all else, this means refocussing on human rights protection for civilians across Europe. Inspired by the change our society has enjoyed, but conscious also of how far we have yet to travel, Ireland made protecting LGBTI+ rights a priority of our Presidency.
"Placing combatting hate crime on the agenda, in meetings such as this, is key in highlighting the scale of the issue we face, and the many ways, we are working collectively to confront those challenges.
"Domestically, Ireland continues to strive to be at the forefront of real, positive, and impactful change in the lives of the LGBTI+ community.
"The Roundtable comes at a significant time in our own country’s discussion on how best to counter hatred and affirm the most fundamental of human rights with the announcement this week that the government has approved publication, of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022.
"This is a hugely important piece of legislation that will tell victims of hate crimes that we are determined to help them and let perpetrators know that they will be punished for spreading hatred, prejudice and contempt.”
The following day, 28 October 2022, there will also be a meeting of the Working Group of the Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity, and Inclusion on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. The Working Group feeds into the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental work to promote equality for all and build more inclusive societies that offer adequate protection from discrimination and hate and where diversity is respected.
Minister O’Gorman will note in this address that:
“Continued collaboration, across multiple levels, is crucial to achieving our shared objectives. Internationally, we remain committed to collective efforts, to ensure the protection of and advancement of the human rights of LGBTI+ people.”
Established in 1949, and headquartered in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe is the continent’s largest and oldest intergovernmental organisation.
Ireland was amongst the organisation’s ten founding members. Today, following the expulsion of the Russian Federation on 16 March, it comprises 46 member states, including the 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Ukraine.
The organisation plays a leading role in the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across Europe and beyond – notably through the European Court of Human Rights, which ensures the observance by member states of their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The European Convention on Human Rights is also a key element of the Good Friday Agreement. The Agreement saw the Convention’s incorporation into Northern Ireland law, ensuring citizens have direct access to the European Court of Human Rights.
Having assumed the Presidency in Turin on 20 May, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers until November.
Over the course of the six months, Ireland has chaired more than a dozen meetings of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, strengthening standards across a range of key areas, from media freedoms to the protection of human rights in conflict zones. By the end of the Presidency, Ireland will have hosted more than thirty Council of Europe conferences and seminars across Strasbourg, Dublin, Galway, Kerry and Cork.
Notable events in Ireland include: an international conference on the rights and best interests of the child in parental separation and care proceedings on 3 October hosted by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, during which the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, highlighted recent reforms in the area in Ireland; and a meeting of the Council’s 46 Justice Ministers in Dublin on 29-30 September, at which Minister for Justice Helen McEntee chaired discussions on how to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in all its forms, culminating in the Dublin Declaration on the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
At the 5th plenary in March 2022, the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI) adopted the methodology for the annual thematic review of CM/Recommendation(2010)5.
The annual thematic review culminates in two types of report: a national report for the countries which volunteer to participate each year and a holistic report with European-wide recommendations on the chosen theme, to be adopted by CDADI. As part of the methodology for the European-wide report, there is an option to have a European roundtable, as a forum to stimulate discussion and enrich the report.
The chosen theme for the 2022 thematic review is ‘Right to life, security and protection from violence’, specifically covering ‘“Hate crimes” and other “hate-motivated incidents”’ component of the theme.
The European roundtable on 27 October 2022 will bring together member states, international NGOs, academics and other key stakeholders to share best practice and solutions on the chosen theme.