On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT), Italy reaffirms its strong commitment to respect, protect and promote the full and equal enjoyment of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons, to guarantee, always and everywhere, the right of everyone to be themselves and to love whoever they want.
Worldwide, violence, exclusion and discrimination continue to occur because of real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or sexual characteristics. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased these violations, with a rise in domestic violence and online and offline hate speech, in particular. Furthermore, the pandemic has also reduced the civic space and caused an increase in arrests and attacks on human rights activists engaged in protecting the rights of LGBTI people. It is imperative that discriminatory laws, policies and practices, including the criminalisation of consensual same-sex relationships, are fought everywhere in the world.
Italy continues its efforts to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of human rights of LGBTI persons, together with its partners in the European Union, which has placed this issue at the heart of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy (2020-2024) and has recently adopted the first LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025, as well as within the framework of several international coalitions, such as the Equal Rights Coalition.
In line with this year’s IDAHOT theme “Together: resilience, support, healing!”, we will keep on paying special attention to the particularly vulnerable situation of LGBTI people in recovery from COVID-19, with the aim of contributing to building more inclusive and sustainable societies.
