| Absztrakt | Collecting and presenting data on developments at national level in 51 countries represents a significant
challenge for ILGA-Europe. Not only are we dealing with original reports in many diverse languages,
the use of terminology around LGBTI issues is often not harmonised across Europe and Central Asia.
Nonetheless, all information within the Annual Review has been verified using original documents and
the best available local knowledge. Where possible, information was checked against institutional and
national reports, and reliable news sources.
In terms of language and terminology, we have tried to avoid causing confusion. For comparative
reasons, the language within the Annual Review has been kept in line with ILGA-Europe’s standards,
and moves away from country-specific legal terms that may have a different meaning elsewhere. At the
same time, we respected the variety of terms used by LGBTI communities to self-identify in different
countries. For example, this is why the Annual Review does not exclusively refer to LGBTI but also to
‘LGBT’, ‘LGBTQ’ and other formulations.
Of course, the Annual Review cannot cover every development in all 51 countries in intricate detail.
Firstly, the event itself may not have been adequately reported, or perhaps the reports were confusing
or contradictory and ILGA-Europe were unable to verify them.
Secondly, the primary goal of the Annual Review is to reflect the human rights situation of LGBTI
people and their position in society. This means that our primary focus is on events and LGBTI NGO
work that represent important milestones towards the acknowledgement of the rights of the LGBTI
community in that country.
Thirdly, information on intersex issues was collected where available but unfortunately intersex people’s
human rights remain largely unaddressed at national level.
Fourthly, ILGA-Europe has extended their geographical scope from only European countries to a wider
region: Europe and Central Asia. This is the first year we collected data from Central Asian countries for
the purpose of Annual Review and included the country chapters for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Finally, this is our eighth Annual Review and we always strive to develop our rigorous data collection
system. However, a number of limitations remain. We will incorporate the lessons learnt during the
previous Annual Review and continue to improve the quality of our reporting on LGBTI issues in Europe
and Central Asia.
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