Civil Rights Defenders recently reported a statement about increasing hate speech toward the LGBTI+ community in Albania, alongside 46 organisations that signed the statement.
Albania’s 2016-2020 action plan for LGBTI+ people has not been succeeded, according to Amnesty International’s 2023 report. The legal discriminations that same-sex partners face still exist. While the statistics show that hate speech in Albania is discriminatory towards people’s ethnicity, gender and sexuality: an increase in safe spaces and effective action against hate speech is required by legal bodies.
The use of language online, in case of hate speech, can lead to stigmatisation of the LGBTI+ community that may disrupt the cohesion, inclusivity and respect for one another in society. While LGBTI+ individuals may already have legal struggles due to the lack of effort put in by the government to provide a safer space for all; the perpetrators of hate speech only make it more hostile, fearful and unsafe. Even though the law for hate speech and discrimination is in place, the lack of its use for consequences for the perpetrators only makes it worse and makes it more likely to go unreported by the community.
We, as Right Defenders, call for effective and intensive action by the Albanian authorities to deal with increasing hate speech and misinformation found online. Furthermore, the institutional approach to LGBTI+ rights should be revised to allow equal, considerate rights for all.
References
https://crd.org/2022/05/18/we-are-family-tirana-is-ready-for-its-11th-pride-parade
