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The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) hosted a high-level conference in Brussels on Friday 17 May. This date of 17 May is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Intersexophobia (IDAHOT).The event brought together the European Commissioner for Equality, the relevant Ministers and Secretaries of State from several EU Member States, members of the European Parliament, other experts and civil society organizations.They discussed the progress…

Our country has taken important steps forward in recent years to guarantee LGBTIQ+ persons equal rights with, among others, the historic Stop Feminicide law, the updating of our criminal code and the ban on conversion practices. Civil society will receive structural support from 2024. But new figures from the European fundamental rights agency FRA are shocking and show that much work is still needed in our country too to ensure equal rights and freedoms for LGBTIQ+ persons.The results of the FRA…

The fifth Interministerial Conference on Women's Rights, and also the last of the legislature, took place in Brussels on Tuesday 23 March 2024. In recent months, the conference’s work was based on the recommendations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with the help of a number of leading experts.After eight months of work bringing together different levels of government, this Interministerial Conference on Women's Rights was…

The Institute for the equality of women and men has just completed the procedure for granting structural funding to associations working around protecting and strengthening women's rights.The procedure for associations fighting racism and discrimination based on sexual orientation, the latter led by the Equal Opportunities Department within the FPS Justice, has also just been completed. This is the final stage in the political process initiated by the state secretary for Gender Equality,…

On Wednesday 27 March, the committee Public Health and Equality approved the draft law to legally anchor the Belgian Sexual Assault Centres. This will ensure the long-term survival of the Centres in terms of organisation, funding and cooperation between hospitals, police and public prosecutors. Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Marie-Colline Leroy said, "This legal regulation is the culmination of years of hard work to expand the Sexual Assault…

The Institute for the Equality of Women and men is making a new tool available on its website to help professionals in the field detect "coercive control" more quickly. This is important because "coercive control" is usually the step that precedes feminicide. The elaboration and availability of this tool is one of the measures resulting from the Stop Feminicide Act promoted by Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities Marie-Colline Leroy that was voted in late August. In…

41.9% of Belgian young people have already heard of deepnudes, 13.8% of Belgian young people have ever received a deepnude, 12.8% know about deepnude apps and 60.5% of them have already tried to make a deepnude themselves. This is according to a study by the University of Antwerp (UA) of more than 2,800 Belgian young people aged between 15 and 25 years old, commissioned by the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, Child Focus and the State Secretary for Equal Opportunities, Gender…

The Belgian presidency and European Parliament agreed on a first-ever EU law on violence against women and domestic violence. The new law lays down minimum rules concerning the definition of specific criminal offences and penalties to address this form of violence. It also sets out rights of victims of all forms of violence against women or domestic violence, and provides for their protection.

On Friday 9 February, the federal government gave a mandate to Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Marie-Colline Leroy, to examine how best to implement the action proposals put forward by the eight experts who participated in the Round Table to strengthen dialogue and cohesion in Belgian society. Among the proposed actions: a 'Year of Cultural Diversity' and the creation of a citizens' council with elected citizens who can make recommendations…

The pilot project Lawyer Victim Assistance (LVA) started in November 2023. It is the result of a collaboration between the Brussels Bar, the Brussels Prosecutor's Office, the Brussels Capital-Elsene police zone and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men. The project is co-supported by Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt and State Secretary for Gender Equality Marie-Colline Leroy.This project aims to make legal aid more accessible to victims of sexual and intra-family violence and to…