‘Human rights should be at the core of all LGBTI+ events. That’s why Copenhagen 2021 featured several human rights-focused events to push our agenda of equality and diversity forward.’
The Copenhagen 2021 Human Rights Forum was an international LGBTI+ experience consisting of multiple high-level events and a broader program that was open to the public.
The diversity and aim of our different events created opportunities to target different groups within and outside our community, including politicians, activists, media, government officials, and the general public, and bring them together to create awareness, understanding and give everybody the possibility to broaden their horizons and take action.
You can watch recordings of many of the events on the individual event pages linked below.
UN City LGBTI+ Fair
The UN City fair took place at UN City in Copenhagen. The vision of the United Nations LGBTI+ Fair was to create opportunities for participants to meet the different United Nations agencies who showcased their work and research in the area of LGBTI+ Inclusion. We wanted this fair to be an inclusive space created for an open dialogue and interaction between the participating agencies and the audiences from communities and allies representing different parts of the globe.
Official Opening in the UN City
For the official opening of the Forum we met at UN City Copenhagen, to evaluate the progress, discuss challenges and opportunities, and to suggest a way forward that secures the inclusion of LGBTI+ people in the frame of the global SDGs. The opening event was organised in collaboration with UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency and coordinated with other UN entities. Around 250 participants were welcomed in the lobby areas of UN City Copenhagen for an inspirational fair before the official ‘kick-off’ of the Human Rights Forum in the UN City auditorium.
Human Rights Conference
Human rights defenders and activists from all over the globe gathered physically and digitally in Copenhagen between 17-19 August. The three-day conference took place in a hybrid form with physical elements for participants in person and full online access to content sessions, to facilitate the engagement of as many people as possible. The conference was open to human rights defenders and activists, elected officials, academics, NGOs, media, Pride organizers and sports leaders in the field of LGBTI+ rights, and anybody else interested in the more in-depth LGBTI+ cause.
1:1 Democracy Festival
Based on Copenhagen Pride’s Human Rights Programme and inspired by the Scandinavian model of ‘Folkemøde’, 1:1 Democracy Festival was open for five days of events as part of the Human Rights Forum. The 1:1 Democracy Festival aimed to bring together politicians, activists and members of the general public in an informal and open setting to create a space of awareness and an understanding of issues and challenges faced by different minorities around the world.
Interparliamentary Plenary Session
On Friday 20 August 2021 elected officials from all over the world gathered both physically and digitally for the Interparliamentary Plenary Assembly at he Danish Parliament, also called the Folketing. This event took place physically and was interpreted and accessible digitally for active participation in English, French, Spanish and Danish.
Embassy Engagement Programme
To live up to the notion of a world event, Copenhagen 2021 has been seeking global engagement from our community. In collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have been planning closer cooperation with our missions/embassies abroad, establishing the Embassy Engagement Program and bringing Copenhagen 2021 to the world.
We worked in collaboration with more than 75 Danish and Swedish missions all over the world who worked together with national and regional LGBTI+ organizations and other partners in order to directly include the voice of the community. Some missions live-streamed some of the events taking place during Copenhagen 2021, whilst others for example hosted round table events.
Refugees, Borders and Immigration Summit
The Summit took place in Malmö on Friday 20 August, and had a very international focus and target transnational situations and gathered a broad participatory audience both digitally and physically. The event was held in English and interpreted into French, Spanish, Swedish also including International Sign Language.
LGBTI+ Workplace Inclusion Day
The LGBTI+ Workplace Inclusion Day, took place on Wednesday, 18 August within the space of the Human Rights Conference of Copenhagen 2021, and focused on how to create workplaces where everyone can be themselves. It covered all sides of the story from creating supporting structures within organizations to corporate advocacy that can impact LGBTI+ non-friendly legislation through plenary sessions, townhalls, and breakout sessions.
Executive partner organisations
The events taking place during the Human Rights Forum were delivered in close collaboration with our 20 executive partners with whom we signed Memoranda of Understanding to outline and shape the collaboration.
