Feedback to EU LGBTIQ Equality Strategy for 2026-2030
The EU has a key role to play in shaping and implementing equality policies such as the LGBTIQ equality strategy to fulfil its obligations to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) including FGM, in line with the Istanbul Convention and the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2024/1385.
We call on the EC to build on the lessons learnt from the implementation – or lack thereof – of the previous strategy. The EC must ensure that a Commission Task Force on Equality, comprising all Equality Coordinators and relevant staff, is in place and strengthened, to allow for intradepartmental collaboration and monitoring of implementation; the equality task force must work transparently and in close consultation and cooperation with key civil society organisations and networks.
The EU and all Member States must also that professionals (particularly gynaecologists, andrologists, midwives, aesthetic surgeons and paediatricians) receive training on harmful social and gender norms, stereotypes and human rights as part of their curricula. For equality strategies to be effective and responsive to real needs of communities, adequate funding must be earmarked for their implementation and allocated to national authorities to put systemic civil society engagement mechanisms in place.