Annual report 2021

As we enter the year of 2022, we prepare to commemorate that it has been 50 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in Norway. But as the backlash against LGBTI- and women’s rights in 2021 has shown us, this is an anniversary of rights that are once again facing resistance worldwide.

- These fifty years have made us believe that LGBTI and women’s rights history is inevitably changing for the better, says Mina Skouen, who is responsible for NHC’s Equal Rights work.

- But only in 2021, we got a new law against so-called “LGBT propaganda” in Hungary, in the middle of EU, and Turkey resigned from the Istanbul Convention, ten years after it was opened for signatures, right there in Istanbul.

The Istanbul Convention has become a target of both an anti-gender movement on the rise and prominent political figures who are playing upon these forces. Its opponents portray it as an instrument to destroy traditional family values and to promote a so-called “LGBT agenda”, largely the same line of argumentation as we see in countries that are introducing legislation targeting visibility and free speech of LGBTI persons.

- It is therefore even more important that the Convention is also gaining new signatories, and that is on the agenda of civil society, says Skouen.
- Moldova has finally agreed to ratify the convention, despite vast resistance. NHC also supported our long-term partner in Ukraine, Insight, with a campaign to make Ukraine to ratify the Convention.

We also see that the backlash is accompanied by important new victories. In Bosnia Herzegovina, our partner organization Tuzla open Center (TOC) has signed a historic collaboration agreement with the city authorities to improve the lives of the LGBTI citizens. And in Georgia, our partner Women’s Initiative Supporting Group collaborates with universities and libraries in promoting reports, films and podcasts that breaks down the homophobic and transphobic noise promoted from leading political figures and vocal anti gender movements.

The political agitation against the Istanbul Convention is to keep traditional family values intact, and to “protect children”. The consequence is that children and youth are deprived of information that is of vital interest to their safety, health and fundamental human rights. This inspired NHC to keep young people at the forefront of our work in 2021.

NHC organized the campaign Over the rainbow with the news portal Framtida.no. We published portraits of LGBTI activists from Europe, had a writing competition for youth, developed learning tools for high school teachers, and organized an online event where youth could meet the activists in person. Our young audience took at great interest in the stories of what motivated people to become activists in a clearly unsafe situation.

In 2022, we will use our historic 50-year celebration to make sure that we take the courage and creativity of our colleagues with us into the future, making sure we leave the oppression they faced where it belongs, in the past.