Malta has topped the LGBTI rights index by far for the 6th year running, as Prime Minister Robert Abela praised the achievement.
“We have strengthened the score from previous years & are committed to keep improving in the years ahead,” the PM said.
Released every year since 2009 on International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Intersexphobia (IDAHOBIT), the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map ranks all 49 European countries on a scale between 0% (gross violations of human rights, discrimination) and 100% (respect of human rights, full equality).
The top 5 ranking countries were Malta (94%), Belgium (74%), Luxembourg (72%), Portugal (68%) and Norway (67%). On the other side of the table, Monaco (11%), Russia (10%), Armenia (8%), Turkey (4%) and Azerbaijan (2%) find themselves at the bottom of the list.
Malta, North Macedonia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina were the three countries with the biggest jump in scores. Malta added sex characteristics under protected grounds in the Refugees Act and published new policy guidelines for LGBTI asylum claims.
Malta also received points in relation to ILGA-Europe’s new indicators (“Non-binary recognition” and “Legal gender recognition procedures exist for minors”).
Against a background of hardly any positive change at all, countries such as Albania, Finland and Portugal have moved up in the ranking, but only because of very small changes implemented.
Despite clear commitments on rainbow family recognition, not one country has moved on partnership or parenthood recognition.
After reporting positive changes in bodily integrity or legal gender recognition for many years, there is no change this year for intersex and trans rights apart from Iceland.
On a positive note, some countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia) now have points on freedom of assembly, reflecting improvements of safety for public LGBTIQ+ events.