LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey
On 6 October 2022, ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for the Western Balkans and Turkey, in partnership with Alliance against Discrimination LGBT, hosted at the Europe House in Tirana the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Meeting: Access to Justice for LGBTIQ+ people. The event was supported by the Council of Europe / European Union Horizontal Facility Programme II for the Western Balkans and Turkey.
The main purpose of the Multi-Stakeholder dialogue meeting was to contribute to a higher reporting and increasing of trust in the justice system, by promoting the You are Heard platform and strengthening dialogue between state authorities, human rights institutions, the LGBTIQ+ community and other stakeholders.
Keynote speakers at the event where Christina Hohmann, Head of Delegation of the European Union in Albania and Jutta Gützkow, Head of Office of the Council of Europe Office in Albania. The event was followed by a thorough presentation of the You are Heard platform by ERA’s Advocacy Manager, Biljana Ginova, and a presentation of the current situation with regards to hate crime situation in Albania by Arbër Kodra, Executive Director at Open Mind Spectrum Albania. The last session of the event was a panel discussion with Xheni Karaj, Executive Director of Alliance against Discrimination LGBT, Arbër Kodra, Executive Director at Open Mind Spectrum Albania, Erida Skëndaj, Executive Director at the Albanian Helsinki Committee and Brunilda Menalla, Advisor to the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination.
Main Conclusions and Recommendations:
The legal framework needs to be improved in order to better address hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity and expression;
Better data collection and disaggregation system is needed for crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression;
A lot more work needs to be done to increase trust of LGBTIQ+ people in state institutions. A lot more needs to be done to increase reporting of hate crime incidents;
A better investigation of hate crimes and incidents is required. Investigations need to be fast and effective. The bias in hate crime incidents needs to be properly addressed and investigated;
State institutions need to make bigger efforts in informing LGBTIQ+ citizens about the protection mechanisms in place and how they can be used;
Services for LGBTIQ+ survivors of hate crimes need to be extended to the entire territory of the country;
Human and financial resources need to be increased in order to ensure efficient addressing of hate crimes;
State institutions need to strengthen cooperation among themselves and improve their joint response;
Capacity building of persons who are in touch with LGBTIQ+ community need to be strengthened;
Monitoring of implementation of legislation and available mechanisms need to be continuous and improved;