MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Born at risk: Transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crime and 2021 registered a record number of 50 violent fatal incidents. What actions can the EU take to protect the fundamental rights and physical integrity of its targeted Citizens?
Submitted by: Isthea Amoilafoe, Tayma El Yalte, Jente Goossens, Leah Israël, Evy Minnaar, Leo Pettersson, Alice Rapp, Tuur van Berge Henegouwen, Benjamin Stephenson (Chairperson, CH/NL)
The European Youth Parliament aims to protect transgender people in the EU against transphobic violence at its source by curbing microaggressions, fetishisation, and non-inclusive legislation while promoting positive representation of trans people in the media and providing education on the topic. Ultimately, we strive to change societal perspectives and extend the legal protection of trans people.
The European Youth Parliament,
- Alarmed by the increase in the rate of violence against transgender people,
- Recognising the importance of intersectionality when addressing trans violence,
- Fully aware of the psychological damage that transgender and gender non-conforming people experience due to not feeling safe to express themselves fully,
- Concerned by the prevalence of transphobic microaggressions towards trans people potentially leading to the normalisation of transphobia,
- Worried by the fact that transgender and gender non-conforming people are often coerced into situations directly endangering their safety,
- Regretting the hesitancy of transgender people to trust law enforcement authorities in instances of experienced violence due to a historically bad relationship between the police and trans people,
- Noting with concern that trans people are more prone to sexual violence due to the widespread fetishisation of trans people,
- Observing that the lack of statutory law protections for non-transitioned transgender and gender non-conforming people prevents the prosecution of hate crimes carried out against them;
- Calls upon ILGA-Europe’s trans-oriented subsidiaries to facilitate intersectional trans-focused awareness in their respective locations;
- Invites the Directorate-General for Budget (DG BUDG) to encourage fund distribution to intersectional trans-inclusive cultural media projects;
- Suggests Member States establish the role of a trans-specialised counsellor at police stations nationwide responsible for facilitating communication with transgender victims;
- Directs DG BUDG to allocate further funding to Trans United Europe to establish genderqueer-exclusive shelters and genderqueer-friendly shelters;
- Asks Member States to establish a national helpline for trans people;
- Directs the Court of Justice of the European Union to make amendments to existing hate crime legislation in order to include non-binary trans people and trans people who have not transitioned medically;
- Encourages Member States to communicate best practices and existing statutory law regarding hate crimes against transgender people to aid further development of statutory law throughout the EU.
Fact sheet
Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not conform to the sex they were assigned at birth.
Intersectionality: How discrimination can combine, overlap and intersect in the experiences of marginalised individuals.
Microaggression: An action that subtly (and typically unconsciously) expresses a prejudice towards a member of a marginalised group.Fetishisation: An unreasonable amount of importance given to an object or person.