The Executive Committee of Minsk announced Friday about their decision to refuse the permission of a peaceful solidarity silent action to take place in the capital city of Belarus on April 9.
 
The public event under the slogan “The silence day: we keep silent, so that we could be heard” was supposed to take place in the Mayakovski Street, with the location being far from nearby bus stops, says Siarhei Androsenka, head of the LGBT Human Rights project “GayBelarus”.
 
 

 

On 27 March 2012, IGLYO participated in the conference “Combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity across Europe: Sharing knowledge and moving forward” that was held by the UK Chairmanship of the Council of Europe. The conference brought together LGBT rights activists, politicians and ministers from Council of Europe member states to look at how the Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on  measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity are being implemented. 

The United Nation's Human Rights Council in Geneva, held on 7th of March, is the first-ever formal UN inter-governmental debate on violence and discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The event was opened by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who through a video-message expressed his support to LGBT people. During the event UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, presented her groundbreaking report which documented discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBT activists from all over the world delivered their own statements in response to the panel and the report.