Read more at LGBTQ Nation.
Transgender Europe (TGEU) has released its annual Trans Rights Index and Map, which ranks countries by the protections and opportunities that they offer for trans and nonbinary people. While there have been net positives across Europe, TGEU notes that the gains have not been caused by larger political and climate shifts.
The report “reveals a year of change on paper across Europe and Central Asia but not sustained political progress,” TGEU writes. “While more developments have been recorded than in recent years, many of these hard-won shifts are driven by activists and courts rather than proactive government action.”
The map is co-funded by the European Union and is done in partnership with ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Map. For the Trans Rights Index, they measure each country against 32 indicators across six categories: Legal Gender Recognition, Asylum, Hate Crime/Speech, Non-Discrimination, Health, and Family.
Coming in at the top of the rankings as a clear winner this year was Iceland, which met 30 out of the 32 indicators. It missed one point under Asylum. While gender identity is supported by its laws and it has legal gender recognition for refugees, it does not expressly include gender identity in other asylum policies. Similarly, under Hate Crime/Speech, it got points for having legislation against hate crimes and hate speech targeted at trans people, but it doesn’t have a policy tackling hatred, which can be important to understanding potential threats to trans people in a country.
After Iceland, several runners-up are in close proximity, with Malta fulfilling 28 of the 32 indicators, Spain at 27.18, Belgium and Norway both at 25.5, and Germany at 24.57.
Across the 54 countries studied for the Trans Rights Index, there’s a wide margin in how they treat trans people. Austria, Germany, Iceland, and Malta are the only four countries that have fully met the criteria for nonbinary gender recognition. Meanwhile, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Russia, and Slovakia still have frameworks in place that make legal gender recognition impossible for trans people. Russia is at the bottom of the ranking, meeting zero of the 32 criteria.
TGEU also provides commentary on how the political climate has shaped the rankings compared to previous years. Notably, they point to “targeted and deliberate regressions” in what they call “rollback as a political strategy.” Belarus introduced an “anti-propaganda law” in April, which criminalized the promotion of trans rights and representation. The country also reinstated compulsory medical requirements for legal gender recognition. Slovakia also introduced a block on legal gender recognition. And the United Kingdom gets a special mention for the “ambiguity” around the nation’s Gender Recognition Certificates after last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
The organization also highlights that progress across Europe and Central Asia over the last year is due to the tireless work of activist groups and court responses. For example, Czechia brought in new legal gender recognition guidelines that no longer include forced sterilization and surgical requirements after a Constitutional Court ruling. TGEU explained, “These guidelines followed years of advocacy and litigation by trans activists and represent one of the most significant shifts in the region this year. However, as these changes are not fully enshrined in legislation, they remain vulnerable to rollback.”
Of course, TGEU also makes the point that while these positive legal moves are a great sign, they’re not the full story. Laws on paper don’t always translate to “safety, dignity, or the ability to access human rights for trans people.” With that in mind, TGEU calls on governments to do their part to secure trans rights in these countries and to support efforts to establish stronger protections.
“Regional and national leaders must now step up,” the report states, “put court rulings and laws into practice, and hold those accountable who treat human rights like an a la carte menu.”
fleeredstates.blog 
Leave a comment