The SOGIESC Unit of the Council of Europe is happy to share that the updated module on “Discrimination based on SOGIESC” of the HELP anti-discrimination course is now available. In order to keep the course relevant for legal professionals and the judiciary, the content of this module was recently revised by adding discrimination on grounds of gender expression and sex characteristics, and now covers all SOGIESC grounds. In addition, more recent case law was added, terminology reviewed and definitions were also incorporated in the module.

Discrimination based on SOGIESC can take very different forms and cover a wide range of issues in many areas (e.g. work, family life, sports, education, access to healthcare, protection from violence). It is frequently experienced by lesbian, gay, bi, transgender and intersex persons (LGBTI) even when there is legislation in place at national level to ban it. However, only a small minority of these incidents are reported to authorities.

As of 2024, there is no binding, standalone international Convention on SOGIESC issues. However, the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of SOGIESC is unequivocally applied by the European Court of Human Rights and other Council of Europe bodies, UN committees and agencies, by the European Commission and in EU legislation.

Member States therefore have a clear duty to protect LGBTI persons against ill-treatment and to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

If you want to receive more information or you are interested in rolling out this module nationally, contact us at [email protected].