Diffusion of laws addressing anti-LGBT violence to South-East European countries

Countering violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is a priority for the European Commission, which recognises hate crimes as human rights violations. Increasing numbers of states are responding to this problem by imposing harsher penalties for anti-LGBT hate crimes.

In Europe, such laws are being introduced in some South and East European (SEE) coun-tries with poor records in respect to LGBT equality.

Most of them cannot, however, evidence that they actively use the new laws to prosecute hate crimes, which raises questions about their com-mitment and the factors behind the adoption of these laws.

The introduction of anti-LGBT hate crime laws in some SEE countries follows the increasing attention paid to the issue at international level and coincides with the process of EU integration.

It is unclear, however, what role, if any, bodies such as the European Union or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe play in strengthening national responses to hate crime.

Using an innovative methodology, which combines interviews enhanced by diagrams as stimuli, analysis of policy documents and doctrinal analysis, this socio-legal research project will develop a theoretically transferable model explaining how, when and why SEE states address anti-LGBT hate crime.

Specifically, the research will illuminate how various actors, including non-governmental organisations, civil servants, scholars and international bodies, contribute to the introduction and enforcement of anti-LGBT hate crime laws.

The project will focus on the case studies of Georgia and North Macedonia, two SEE countries which share the re-cent introduction of anti-LGBT hate crime laws but differ in the degree of enforcement.

By borrowing from social movement theories and theories of Europeanisation, the research will address a global policy problem, as well as gaps in scholarship, by deepening our understanding of how, when and why states address anti-LGBT violence.