Council of Europe

• The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

The 2011 report on "Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe" by the Commissioner for Human Rights, covering all 47 member states and based on the largest socio-legal study ever carried out on discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity provides a clear picture of the situation in Europe and constitutes a valuable input to the Council of Europe present work in this field.

The background document to the report, over 300 pages, contains the full results of the study

The Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has also been very active, in regularly addressing the question of homophobia, transphobia, hate speech and intolerance in the various member states. The Commissioner published an Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity in 2009.

• Council of Europe standards

The Council of Europe works to uphold human rights, the rule of law and pluralist democracy. The Council of Europe's standards and mechanisms seek to promote and ensure respect for the human rights of every individual. These include equal rights and dignity of all human beings, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.
The Council of Europe has adopted a number of international legal instruments and standards on combating discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. They illustrate the underlying message of the Organisation, which is that the Council of Europe's standards of tolerance and non-discrimination apply to all European societies, and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity is not compatible with these standards.
The publication "Combating discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity" ( June 2011) provides an accessible and comprehensive compilation of the standards adopted by the Council of Europe. It should serve as a reference for the governments, international institutions, NGOs, media professionals and to all those who are - or should be - professionally or otherwise involved or interested in protecting and promoting the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.