TGEU The ProTrans project INTRODUCTION S THE PROTRANS PROJECT ince 2008, Transgender Europe (TGEU) has been a Transphobic violence has also become the focus of at- The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Eu- pioneer in research on trans people’s lived experi- tention in European and international policy discussions rope (OSCE) also confirmed that “homophobic hate ence of violence and crime: its Trans Murder Monitoring and research in recent years. In 2012, the European Un- crimes and incidents often show a high degree of cru- (TMM) project has documented 1,518 cases of mur- ion Fundamental Rights Agency’s (FRA) LGBT survey 2 elty and brutality. They often involve severe beatings, dered trans persons around the world over the past five identified transgender persons as particularly vulnerable torture, mutilation, castration, even sexual assault. They years, including 89 in Europe. 1 to hate crimes and unlikely to report them. One of the are also very likely to result in death. Transgender people survey’s most shocking results is that seem to be even more vulnerable within this category”.3 The project in brief At the global level, the Discrimination and violence against 35 per cent of the respondents had been attacked or threatened individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity with violence in the five years before the survey was carried out. (A/HRC/29/23) report issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also The results also shed light on the extent to which trans acknowledges that gender-based violence against trans people face bias-motivated discrimination in different people is often particularly brutal, and in some instances areas of life, including employment, education, health- characterised by levels of cruelty exceeding that of oth- care, housing and other services. Transgender respond- er hate crimes. ents, as well as lesbian and bisexual women, were more The 2015 IDAHOT update of TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring project is available: http://www.tgeu.org/tmm-idahot-update-2015/ likely than gay and bisexual men to have been discrim- In line with the above policy developments and increas- inated against on the basis of their gender and sexual ing attention to transphobic violence, TGEU has grad- orientation in the 12 months preceding the survey. Fur- ually been placing more emphasis on monitoring and thermore, almost a third of responding trans persons reporting transphobic incidents in the form of discrimi- felt that they had been discriminated against in their nation, hate speech and hate crimes. By working togeth- employment or job search in the 12 months prior to the er with LGBT and trans groups and NGOs within the survey. Every fifth transgender person also reported dis- framework of the ProTrans project, we wish to provide crimination in healthcare settings, which rate is twice as systematic and credible data in Eastern and South-east- high as among those who don’t identify as transgender. ern Europe, where evidence is scarce and anecdotal, in to better protect trans people and their communities in order to improve public policies to prevent and tackle Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe against vio- discrimination and violence against trans people. lence and impunity. To this end, five trans-rights organ- The FRA concludes that the most frequent reasons for T he present publication has been compiled within the framework of the ProTrans project, initiated by TGEU in 2013. This collaborative undertaking has aimed not reporting were a belief that “nothing would change”, isations have worked with TGEU in a two-year project a lack of knowledge about how or where to report an in- to increase their capacities in monitoring, victim support cident and fear of homophobic or transphobic reactions and advocacy: from the police. +4+ +5+