Preliminary Program

(subject to change!)

Sunday
October 3^rd

Announcements
9:15-9:30

Opening Ceremony
with a video message of

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissionar for Human Rights of the Council of Europe
10:00-10:30

Plenary 2:
Streching Boundaries

Dr. Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions office in Bruxelles

Katri Linna, Equality Ombudsman Sweden

Hilary Third, Scotish Government Equality Unit

Mandana Zarrehparvar, EQUINET Chair

Chairing:
Julia Ehrt (TGEU)

9:30-10:55

Plenary 3:
Demanding Rights

Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director ILGA Europe

Sabeena Francis Saveri, Transactivist and Phd Research Student, India

Nadja Karlsson, Chair of FPES ( Full Personality Expression Sweden)

Alexandra Jachanova, European Womens Lobby

Alira Araneta Zinkunegi, STP2012

Chairing: Richard Köhler (TGEU)

10:30-12:00
 

Keynote Speach

Vladimir Luxuria, former member of the Italian parliament, TV moderator and activist
10:30-11:10

Parallel Workshops 13-18,

11:15-12:45

WS13 Genital and Sexual Diversity: Language is restrictive when our genitals and sex acts do not match the widely accepted terms society might use for them. (Presented by Leslie Sherlock and others)

WS14 Interrights - (Presented by Constantin Cojocariu)

The use of courts to advance the rights of transgender people

Constantin Cojocariu, Lawyer for INTERIGHTS, a London-based
international human rights organisation, will discuss current
achievements and possible ways forward for strategic litigation of
transgender rights at the European level, will examine the experience of
litigating transgender rights at the domestic level in the countries of
Central and Eastern Europe, and will present the work that INTERIGHTS is
doing in the area.

WS15 Best Practice - Advancing Trans* rights in Sweden and more, Presented by Maria Sundin and others.

WS16

WS17 Carla LaGata/Dr. Carsten Balzer, James Morton, Derya Tunc, Grupo Luna.
"Transphobic Hate Crimes in Europe“

The presenters will give a brief introduction into the concepts of transphobia and transphobic hate crimes and its challenges, the ways of how and where to report transphobic hate crimes and some preliminary data on the distribution of transphobic hate crimes in Europe. This will be followed by the presentation of two exemplary cases: the situation in Turkey and the situation in Italy. Thereafter an example for good practice from Scotland will be presented: the working together of trans people with equality strands to get hate crime legislation. Based on these examples a discussion will be started on how to combat transphobia and transphobic hate crimes efefctively, how to unite on an international level to fight transphobia and transphobic hate crimes. Part of the discussion will be to develop strategies and concepts how TGEU can be involved in an international combat against transphobia and transphobic hate crimes in Europe.

WS18 GIV in DSD persons: Jenny Ottosson

Plenary 1:
Embracing Diversity

Jayne Hardwick, UK Equality and Human Rights Commission

Lars Erik Holm, National Board of Health and Welfare Sweden

Maria Sundin, RFSL

Cat McIlroy, Former TENI Coordinator

Videomessage: Raul Romeva i Rueda, MEP

Chairing:
Philippa Ryder (TGEU)

11:30-13:00

13.00 : The Rainbow Festival Parade begins at Stortorget

Lunch
12:45-14:00

Parallel Workshops 1-6.
14:15-15:45

WS1: TGEU Strategy 2010 - 2012 (Presented by Julia Ehrt and Richard Köhler)

WS2:  Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide (Presented by Dr Carsten Balzer and Jan Hutta) Transgender Europe’s “Transrespect versus Transphobia Worlwide” (TvT) project is a comparative, ongoing qualitative-quantitative research project, which provides an overview of the human rights situation of trans persons in different parts of the world and develops useful data and advocacy tools for international institutions, human rights organizations, the trans movement and the general public. With the distribution of an expert questionnaire in September 2010, the main phase of research has started and the TvT team is seeking further cooperating partners and new contacts. After an introductory presentation of the project, ways of cooperation with interested trans organizations, groups and activists will be discussed in the workshop.

WS3: Transforming Arts. Jo Clifford is a poet, performer and author of over 70 performed plays. Her workshop will help participants release their creativity. Our trans voices deserve to find full artistic expression. We need to be heard throughout the world: and engaging creatively with the world is a powerful tool to enable us regain our power and our pride.

WS4: …And Others! Trans* Activist Toolkit
Five trans* organisations have been involved in a series of exchange visits during which they have been creating a trans* rights toolkit to share knowledge across Europe about how to lobby for improvements in trans* equality. The toolkit covers recognition of gender and relationships, health care, hate crime, employment and the media. Now is your chance to add your thoughts and ideas on how the toolkit is finalised.
This work is funded by the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme Grundtvig. 
Presented by members of …And Others!

WS5:Transit
Support for transgender youth

Transit is a project run by RFSL Ungdom with the ambition to create support for transgender youth. Since the T in LGBT is often forgotten or ignored by society in general we started this project to exclusively focus on that group to meet their need of recognition and identification.

In this workshop we want to discuss different approaches in working with and for transgender youth in order to exchange ideas and to think openly about new ways of dealing with society’s inability to take resonsibility for the health of this group of young people.

WS6: (Spontaneous)

Parallel Workshops 19-24

14:00-15:15

WS19  Trans* activism worldwide - an update (Presented by Justus Eisfeld)
In this workshop I will report on recent developments for and by trans* activists worldwide, as well as give an impression of some of the key issues presented in Barcelona in June at the first worldwide 'Trans* Action = Trans* Rights' conference. There will also be time for questions and answers.

WS20 TGEU Activity and Financial Statements, 2008 - 2010 (Presented by Julia Ehrt, Karin Astrup, and Pia Nielsen)

WS21: Demanding rights – transgender people fighting for their human rights in Kyrgyzstan: finding opportunities and allies in the context of former Soviet Union legislation and Islamic culture. (Presented by Alex Mamytov)

WS22 Partnership work between Trans-Activists and Government Civil Servants
(Presented by James Morton from the Scottish Transgender Alliance and Hilary Third from the Scottish Government)
This workshop will explore ideas and tips for improving the effectiveness of partnership work between trans-activists and government civil servants. Participants will have the opportunty to share and discuss their own experiences of raising trans equality and human rights issues with government civil servants and to hear a short presentation about the co-production partnership work model used in Scotland.

WS23 Organisational Development - EU grants for Trans* activists (Presented by Anne Stalfort)

Trans* activities with a European scope can be financed  through EU grant programmes. This workshop will intoduce you to the "philosophy" and goals of EU Lifelong Learning Grants, and explore how trans* activities can be linked to them. We will have a close look on two concrete grant options suitable for European trans* networks and/or workshops ("Grundtvig Learning Partnerships" and "Grundtvig Workshops"). These two options can lead to grants between 10.000 and 25.000 Euro for your organisation. They require no additional funds and even allow some thousand Euros for coordination. They are are flat-rate based, therefore very little financial adminstration is needed. These grants are designed for newcomers - the process does not require highly specialized EU grant management skills. Too good to be true? Come and find out!

WS24 Good practices - an experience to share, presented by Nicole De Leo

Desscription of the services that have been set up in M.I.T. (Transsexual Identity Movement). The goals and tasks for the future and how to share the experience with all European associations in order to collaborate with European partners in projects, useful for dignity, health work and all aspects concerning trans* rights.

Parallel Workshops 7-12.

16:00-17:30

WS7: TGEU Statutes workshop (Presented by Pia Nielsen)

WS8: STP 2012 International Stop Trans Pathologization Campaign: The aims, history and future strategies of the STP 2012 Campaign (Presented by STP 2012 team)

The main objective of the STP 2012 campaign is the removal of gender identity disorder of the international catalogues DSM and ICD. Therefore, 41 cities all over the world mobilized on October 17, 2009, and more than 240 organizations from different continents and numerous persons are supporting the campaign. The next international action day will be on October 23, 2010.

The developments and news of the last months, amongst others the publication of the DSM-5 draft, introduce new elements in the trans depathologization activism, at the same time as reinforcing the continued demand of depathologization of trans identities and expressions. The different political and cultural contexts require differentiated strategies to achieve the objective of trans depathologization and to guarantee trans-relevant health rights.

In the workshop, we would like to discuss future strategies of trans depathologization activism with you, to strengthen the international networking, and to invite you and your groups to join the STP 2012 Campaign and to participate in the next actions.

More information: www.stp2012.info

WS9: The European Social Charter and the enjoyment of fundamental social rights without discrimination.
Presentation: The European Social Charter has been ratified by 43 European States and its implemention is monitored by the European Committee of Social Rights, an independent body, through a reporting procedure and a collective complaint mechanism whereby INGOs can bring complaints to it. The rights guaranteed by the Charter cover many different fields (employment, health, education, etc) and they must be applied by States without discrimination.
 

WS10: Do it yourself! Exploring trans video blogs on YouTube as online activism and therapy (Presented by Tobias Raun)

WS11: Ukraine Presented by Seo Shevchenko and Timur Lysenko

WS12; Lost Childhood, Lost Adulthood - Transgender Epiphanies and Extreme Social Exclusion (Presented by Natacha Kennedy)

This workshop presents research into the experiences of transgender children both in and out of school and details how the average age of realisation that one’s gender identity is different from the norm is much lower than many would have expected. Transgender children appear to have broadly the same, albeit isolated experience of growing up and this appears to affect their adult lives profoundly and negatively.
Using quantitative and qualitative survey data Natacha demonstrates the depth of problems faced by transgender children and implies that schools are still doing very little to accommodate the vast majority of transgender children. Suggestions are put forward for simple and cost-free ways of substantially improving the lives of transgender children It is recommended that this should be a goal for all transgender activists and organisations in Europe.

Evening Lecture: Diversity, Boundaries, Rights and the DSM V

Prof. Stephen Whittle, TGEU Chair and Press for Change Vice-Chair, Professor for Equalities Law, Manchester University

18:00-19:00