MINORITY RIGHTS Discrimination and stigmatization of minorities remained pervasive across Europe and Central Asia with several groups facing harassment, violence, and obstacles to meaningful participation in society. Discrimination against Roma remained widespread in Slovakia. The European Commission continued an infringement procedure against Slovakia and Hungary for systematic discrimination and segregation of Roma children in schools. Segregated camps, discrimination in access to social housing and forced evictions remained a daily reality for thousands of the 170,000 Roma estimated to be living across Italy, around 40,000 of them in camps in squalid conditions. The European Commission still failed to take effective action towards ending discrimination against Roma. Muslims faced discrimination, particularly when looking for work, at work, and when accessing public or private services such as education and health care. In Austria, a new law banned any kind of full-face covering in public spaces, disproportionately restricting the rights to freedom of expression and of religion or belief. Tajikistan’s authorities forced thousands of women to remove their Islamic headscarves (hijabs) in public places to comply with the law on traditions. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE LGBTI people faced growing abuse and discrimination across the east, including violence, arbitrary arrests and detention. In Azerbaijan, over 100 LGBTI people were arbitrarily arrested on one day in the capital Baku. In Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, consensual sex among men remained a crime punishable by prison. Georgia’s new Constitution restricted the definition of marriage to exclude same-sex couples. Lithuania’s Parliament adopted legislation discriminating against LGBTI people. In Russia, the “gay propaganda law” continued to be used, despite being ruled discriminatory by the European Court of Human Rights. Reports emerged in April that the Chechen authorities were secretly and arbitrarily detaining, torturing and killing gay men. In response to the international outcry, the authorities claimed that gay men did not exist in Chechnya, while the federal authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation. There were also positive developments and examples of human courage and solidarity. The Russian LGBT Network organized a hotline and facilitated the evacuation to safety of LGBTI people from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus. The biggest-ever Pride rally in Ukraine was held. Malta’s parliament approved same-sex marriage legislation and extended full marriage rights to same-sex couples. Germany granted marriage rights to all, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, and equal rights to adoption for married people. TRANSGENDER PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WITH VARIATIONS OF SEX CHARACTERISTICS Transgender people in Europe and Central Asia faced hurdles seeking legal recognition of their gender identity. Children and adults with variations in sex characteristics continued to face human rights violations, perpetrated in the course of non-emergency, invasive and irreversible medical interventions which often had harmful consequences on physical and psychological health, especially for children. In 18 European countries, transgender people were required to undergo sterilization, and in 35 countries they had to receive a mental health diagnosis in order to change their gender. Amnesty International Report 2017/18 53