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Northern Europe
Corona leads to drop in std's in Norway
The corona year has led to a drop in sexually transmitted diseases (std’s) in Norway. This reports the Danish Kristeligt Dagblad referring to the annual report from the Norwegian health board. The number of gonorrhoea cases was 1,045 in 2020, while there were 1,704 cases in 2019. That is a…
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Central Europe
Czech women can have their father's surname without -ova
A Czech woman can have the same surname as her father or husband. The parliament decided on Tuesday that the addition -ova is no longer necessary, [media](https://www.hln.be/buitenland/tsjechische-vrouwen-zullen-zelf-mogen-kiezen-of-hun-naam-op-ova-eindigt~abdb18f4/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2F) in the [Czech Republic](https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/zeny-budou-moci-pouzivat-prijmeni-bez-ova-bez-podminek-40362071) report. In the second chamber of the parliament, the support was robust: 91 votes in favour, 33 against. The…
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Southern Europe
Catholic Church reviews criminal law on sexual abuse
The Roman Catholic Church will punish sexual abuse and financial crimes more severe in the future, [Vatican News](https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-06/pope-francis-pascite-gregem-dei-church-criminal-penalties.html) reports. Pope Francis announced the reforms of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law on Monday. With these changes, he continues a revision begun by his predecessor Benedict XVI. According to…
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Northern Europe
Anti-Semitism is declining in Sweden
Anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs are declining in Swedish society, a new survey of the Swedish [Forum för levande historia](https://www.levandehistoria.se/antisemitism-i-sverige), Forum for Living History, shows. The forum, which is part of the Swedish Ministry of Culture, conducted the survey under more than 3,500 respondents aged 18 to 79 years late 2020.…
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Western Europe
Dutch prostitution alliance fights against stigma
A new alliance of 22 Dutch organisations is committed to combat the stigma of sex work. The Sex Work Alliance Destigmatization (SWAD) will be founded on Wednesday on the International Day of the Sex Worker, the Dutch daily [Reformatorisch Dagblad](https://www.rd.nl/artikel/929767-alliantie-tegen-stigma-op-sekswerk) reports. Sex workers are often seen as victims, the alliance…
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Central Europe
Romania should have protected LGBT community, says European court
The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Romania to compensate viewers of a pro-gay movie who were assaulted by far-right protesters. According to the court, Romania failed to uphold the prohibition of discrimination. Therefore, it sentences the state to pay a fee of almost 60,000 euros. The incident happened…
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Northern Europe
US legal experts call persecution Finnish MP Räsänen “oppression”
The Finnish prosecutor has come under criticism by a group of American law experts about the indictment against the MP Päivi Räsänen. The prosecution itself is even a “serious human rights abuse” and form of “oppression”, the experts write. Räsänen is a conservative Christian who has published Bible texts against…
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Central Europe
Marriage more popular in Hungary
In Hungary marrying has become much more popular in the last couple of years. Within the European Union the country climbed from the tenth place in 2018 up to the third in 2019, according to the statistical office Eurostat. The statistical office of the European Union came
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Central Europe
Pope orders a visit to the Archdiocese of Cologne
Pope Francis has ordered an apostolic visit to the Archdiocese of Cologne to clarify the handling of sexual abuse. Cologne’s Cardinal Woelki welcomes the decision and promises to support the work, writes German newspaper [Die Tagespost](https://www.die-tagespost.de/kirche-aktuell/aktuell/eilmeldung-papst-ordnet-visitation-im-erzbistum-koeln-an;art4874,218545). The Apostolic Nunciature in Germany and the Archdiocese of Cologne announced the visitation on…
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Southern Europe
Malta's president “ready to resign” about abortion
President George Vella of Malta has reaffirmed his stance against abortion. He repeated that he would rather resign than sign a bill concerning abortion. “I will never sign a bill that involves the authorisation of murder.” Vella said this in comments to Net News, a Maltese TV channel, stating that…
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