Tag Archives: Southern Europe

Gender, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Portugal News | Women

Portugal extends reproductive rights to gay and bisexual women and women with fertility issues
  • The Portuguese Parliament voted to extend artificial insemination access to women in same-sex relationships.
  • The bill also legalizes surrogacy for women with health conditions adversely impacting their ability to conceive.
  • The inclusive measure broadens family rights for women in same-sex partnerships following the passage of a bill legalizing adoption by same-sex couples in November 2015.

Read more:
“Approved: Parliament expands reproductive rights – Portugal” (The Portuguese American Journal)
“Portuguese Lawmakers Extend Pregnancy Rights to Gay Women” (AP via ABC News)
“President signs same sex adoption into effect” (The Portugal News)

(Image Credit: via The Portuguese American Journal)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Italy News | LGBT

Same-sex civil unions in Italy on track to become reality following lower house vote
  • Italy’s lower house voted to support PM Matteo Renzi’s government and, by extension, a bill legalizing same-sex civil unions.
  • Following Senate approval in February, the confidence vote removed the potential for last-minute attempts to revise the bill, making final approval a formality.
  • The bill has undergone a controversial history including massive anti-LGBT protests and pro-LGBT outrage over the continued exclusion from marriage and removal of a provision granting same-sex partners universal adoption rights to their partners’ children.

Read more:
“Italian MPs support introduction of same-sex civil unions” (The Guardian)
“Italian MPs back same-sex unions in vote for Renzi” (BBC)
“Italy Approves Same-Sex Civil Unions” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Southern Europe & North Africa News | Migrants & Refugees

As many as 500 may have died in migrant boat sinking in Mediterranean
  • The U.N. refugee agency indicated as many as 500 may have died after a boat carrying mostly African migrants and refugees capsized between Libya and Italy, according to interviews with 41 survivors.
  • If verified, the incident would be the largest migrant tragedy on record since the April 2015 sinking that killed more than 800 migrants.
  • Smugglers have returned to dangerous trans-Mediterranean routes between Libya and Italy following a recent deal between the E.U. and Turkey to stem migration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Read more:
“Survivors report massive loss of life in latest Mediterranean Sea tragedy” (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees press release)
“Hundreds feared dead in migrant shipwreck off Libya” (The Guardian)
“500 May Have Died in Sinking of Migrant Boat in Mediterranean, U.N. Says” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Nikitas Kotsiaris/EPA, via The New York Times)

Nationality + Migration

Greece & Turkey News | Migrants & Refugees

Greece begins mass migrant deportations to Turkey in accordance with controversial new EU deal
  • More than 130 migrants were on the first boat from Lesbos to the Turkish port of Dikili, including Pakistanis, Afghans, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Indians, Syrians, and an Iraqi.
  • To stem the flow of human trafficking across the Aegean Sea, Turkey has agreed to receive migrants and refugees who have arrived in Greece via the Aegean without authorization.
  • In return, the EU will take in Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and give Turkey money, visa-free travel, and progress in its EU membership application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAIOeSyAeg

Read more:
“Migrants sent back from Greece arrive in Turkey under EU deal” (Reuters)
“First EU migrant deportations from Greece to Turkey ‘go smoothly’, despite protests” (euronews)
“First boats returning migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey” (The Guardian)

Age, Ideology + Affiliation

Portugal & Angola News | Activists & Dissidents

Protests over jailing of youth activists in Angola spread to Portugal
  • Advocates in Lisbon have expressed dismay that the Portuguese government has so far refused to condemn the jailing of 17 youth activists in its former colony.
  • Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos warned Portugal against stepping into what he considers to be an Angolan domestic matter.
  • Demonstrations in Lisbon castigated the conviction of the book-club activists as well as Angolan businessmen’s investment in Portugal’s news and telecommunications industries.

Read more:
“Anger as Lisbon fails to condemn jailing of Angola book club dissidents” (The Guardian)
“Tensions high after Angolan activists sentenced in ‘show trial’” (The Observers)

(Image Credit: Joao Relvas/EPA, via The Guardian)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Italy News | Gay & Lesbian

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Thousands protest same-sex civil union legislation under review in Italian parliament
  • The protesters, estimated in size from the tens of thousands to the millions, gathered as part of Rome’s “family day,” where they expressed opposition to the legislation currently under examination by the Italian senate.
  • A similar protest in 2007 contributed to the withdrawal of a civil union proposal, but PM Matteo Renzi anticipates the legislation’s passage this time.
  • Italy remains the only holdout among the major Western powers in granting same-sex couples the right to legal partnership or joint adoption, with polls indicating around 70% of the country in support of partnership rights and 24% in support of adoption rights.

Read more:
“Tens of thousands protest against same-sex unions in Rome” (Deutsche Welle)
“Italians protest against civil unions for same-sex couples” (The Guardian)
“2m march in anti-civil union protest in Rome, ‘Family Day’ organizer says” (Gay Star News)

(Image Credit: R. Casilli/Reuters, via Deutsche Welle)

Age, Nationality + Migration

Europe News | Child Refugees

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At least 10,000 refugee children reported missing after arriving in Europe
  • The EU’s criminal intelligence agency has reported that the child refugees went missing after registering with state authorities, including 5,000 in Italy and 1,000 in Sweden.
  • Authorities fear the children may have fallen into the hands of human traffickers, who, according to intelligence, have begun linking their slavery networks to migrant-smuggling networks.
  • Unaccompanied minors have become a source of serious concern in the migration crisis, with the U.K. having recently pledged to accept an additional but limited number of unaccompanied children from conflict-ridden regions of North Africa and the Middle East.

Read more:
“10,000 refugee children are missing, says Europol” (The Guardian)
“UK to give sanctuary to unaccompanied refugee children” (BBC)
“Ministers offer unaccompanied child refugees in Europe limited UK help” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Darko Vojinovic/AP, via The Guardian)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Spain & Netherlands News | Black

Spain and the Netherlands look to phase out blackface Christmas traditions
  • Madrid authorities announced that they will cast an actual black person in the role of Balthazar this year rather than continue the tradition of blackening the face of a white person.
  • In The Hague, education officials announced that elementary schools will no longer engage in the “Black Pete” tradition, which paints Santa’s helpers in blackface.
  • While cities across Spain are increasingly abolishing holiday blackface, the Netherlands has seen staunch resistance, with a majority of its citizens rejecting the idea that Black Pete is a racist practice.

“This change is much more than just anecdotal. … Given the increasingly large community of colour in our city, it seems absurd that this role continues to be represented by a person with their face blackened.”

Read the full story at the Guardian.

(Image Credit: Peter Dejong/AP, via The Guardian)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Italy News | LGBT

Venice mayor says no Pride parades for city during his tenure
  • Recently elected mayor Luigi Brugnaro was elected on a center-right ticket and has made his opposition to LGBT rights clear previously.
  • Rights group Arcigay, which hosts numerous Pride events throughout Italy, condemned the statement, having last hosted a parade in Venice just last year.
  • Brugnaro’s statement is the latest in anti-LGBT moves to come from his office, including a blanket ban on books featuring same-sex couples from Venice schools.

“There will never be a gay pride in my city. … Let them go and do it in Milan, or in front of their own homes.”

Read the full story at the Guardian.

Uncategorized

ClimateWatch: Europe

ClimateWatch periodically analyzes the security climates of the world’s regions, focusing on conditions and developments affecting the most vulnerable identity communities while highlighting meaningful political and social steps towards security and integration. This week’s European report summarizes developments in identity security from late July through mid-August.

Continue reading ClimateWatch: Europe →

Nationality + Migration

Greece News | Migrants

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Migrants clash with police on Greek island of Kos
  • Police used fire extinguishers and batons against the migrants after hundreds began protesting in the streets of the small island just off the coast of Turkey.
  • More than a thousand migrants had gathered at a stadium to await immigration papers and grew frustrated by the slow process.
  • The tensions followed a Greek police officer’s suspension the previous day for assaulting a Pakistani migrant.

Read the full story at Al Jazeera America and Reuters.

Nationality + Migration

Europe News | Migrants & Refugees

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European Commission announces €2.4 billion in funding support as transregional migration surge continues
  • The aid will be disbursed over six years, with the two countries most acutely affected to receive the largest share: €560 million for Italy and €473 million for Greece.
  • France will receive €27 million later in the month, and the U.K. already received €20 million in emergency aid in March.
  • France and the U.K. are expected to use the funding they have received to address the situation in Calais, the departure point for many migrants looking to cross into Britain.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Italy News | LGB

European human rights court rules same-sex partnership rights fall under international human rights law
  • The decision responded to a lawsuit from Italian same-sex couples, who live in the only remaining Western European country lacking some form of same-sex partnership rights.
  • Italy’s own courts have ruled in favor of such rights with support from the Italian PM, but Parliament has largely ignored the issue, refusing to create the framework establishing such rights and protections.
  • Arguing that partnership rights fall under the “right to respect for private and family life,” the ruling technically compels compliance from the 47 Council of Europe member states, though its rulings have been ignored in the past.

Read the full story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: Virginia Mayo/AP, via BuzzFeed)

Nationality + Migration

Italy News | Migrants & Refugees

Sardinia sees its own needy rallying to support newly arrived refugees
  • After 90 refugees arrived in one town in the Carbonia-Iglesias province in the southwest of the island, residents quickly brought food, personal hygiene items, cigarettes, phone cards, and more in support.
  • Youth unemployment in the province has soared to 73.9% following the collapse of the area’s coal mining industry and the closure of an aluminum factory.
  • With employment prospects low for the new arrivals, the number of refugees has dwindled to 48 as they depart for places with better opportunity.

“The people here are the most wonderful I have ever met in my life. … My husband died during the crossing. I am pregnant and it is by the grace of God that we are here. But I need a transfer to a place that is more developed.”

Read the full story at The Local.

Gender, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Spain News | Gay Men

A decade after same-sex marriage legalized in Spain, couple faces ongoing familial insecurity as legal challenges to their parental rights continue
  • The couple had twins via surrogacy in 2013, but Spain’s National Institute of Social Security (INSS) denied one of the fathers’ request for leave benefits specifically due to the method of conception.
  • The administration argued that surrogate parenting is excluded from leave benefits for fathers because it entails none of the burdens that childbirth, adoption, or foster care do.
  • Two years later, a court sided with the new parents, ordering the INSS to pay the couple the withheld benefits, and after an appeal led to an additional ruling in favor of the couple, the INSS is appealing to the Supreme Court.

«Está claro que yo no he parido ni adoptado a mis hijos, pero ¿cómo vamos a conciliar nuestra vida familiar y laboral? ¿Pretende el INSS que renuncie al cuidado de mis hijos o que renuncie a pagar mis facturas e hipoteca?»

Translation: “It’s clear that I haven’t given birth or adopted my sons, but how are we going to reconcile our family and work life? Does the INSS expect me to give up caring for my sons or give up paying my bills and mortgage?”

Read the full story at La Verdad (in Spanish).

(Image Credit: Pablo Sánchez/AGM, via La Verdad)