LGBTQIA+ Equality Switzerland Project #69378

ILGA World Database

by ILGA World

Project Report | Dec 10, 2025
Protecting LGBTI Youth and Advancing Global Legal

By J. Andrew Baker | Fundraising and MEL Manager

A Recognised Global Resource

In June 2025, the ILGA World Database was selected as GlobalGiving’s Project of the Month, underscoring its role as the world’s most comprehensive open data resource on SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics) laws and policies.

Across 193 UN Member States and 47 non-UN jurisdictions, the Database continues to empower human-rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and decision-makers with reliable, verified legal information.

Building the Evidence Base: New Data on Bullying Laws

ILGA World published Bullying Laws: Protecting LGBTI Youth, the first-ever global analysis of how national education laws address school bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

The ILGA World Database’s new “School Bullying” dataset (database.ilga.org/school-bullying-lgbti) reveals that only 6 countries worldwide explicitly protect LGBTI students in school settings regarding the prevention of bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). At least one of these grounds, however, is explicitly mentioned in national-level laws in at least 40 UN member States. Still, this is only one-fifth of the world.

This research (cited by UNICEF, UNESCO, and multiple media outlets) has become an evidence base for policy reform and teacher-training initiatives worldwide.

Behind the Data: How We Work

The ILGA World Database is constantly updated through a rigorous research process supported by the Automated Source Processing Unit (ASPU), which monitors hundreds of global sources in multiple languages every day. Between December 2024 and June 2025, more than 90,000 data points were processed, including 4,400 entries reviewed by researchers and legal editors, exceeding all UNDP funding targets for data quality and volume.

Each legal development is reviewed, fact-checked, and summarised by ILGA’s research team in both English and Spanish, ensuring that every entry is accurate, accessible, and gender-sensitive.

In July, the team focused on proofreading and expanding entries for the new “Bullying” section, while continuing to update the Laws on Us and Our Identities Under Arrest reports. ILGA also collaborated with HURIDOCS to improve search functionality and data validation tools.

Global Recognition and Reach

A review by the Geneva Academy praised the ILGA World Database as a “powerful tracking tool for human rights advocacy,” acknowledging its impact in making complex legal information usable for civil society worldwide (Geneva Academy Listing).
By mid-2025, the Database had been cited in 247 academic and media sources, including policy briefs and UN submissions.

Turning Knowledge into Action

In Asia, the Database helped activists compile country legal profiles that formed the basis of national advocacy plans to challenge discriminatory laws.

Elsewhere, legal aid organisations used database entries to support asylum claims and inform parliamentary debates on anti-discrimination reforms.

Each of these outcomes demonstrates how open data can translate into tangible rights protection.

Why Your Support Matters

Your donations keep the Database accurate and free, funding its daily updates, language expansion, and new interactive features. They ensure that grassroots activists in restrictive contexts have the same credible information as their peers in global capitals.

By backing this project, you are not just funding data — you are strengthening the infrastructure of global equality.

Explore the Database: ilga.org/database

Links:

ILGA World Database (New School Bullying Dataset)

Permalink

Aug 12, 2025
Recognised Globally: The ILGA World Database Drives Change

By J. Andrew Baker | Fundraising and MEL Manager

In June 2025, the ILGA World Database was honoured as GlobalGiving’s Project of the Month, a recognition that celebrates its vital role as the world’s most comprehensive legal and policy resource on SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics) issues. This global spotlight affirms the database’s unique value for activists, journalists, policymakers, and legal professionals working toward equality.

What Makes It Unique

The ILGA World Database covers all 193 UN Member States plus 47 non-UN jurisdictions. It tracks laws in 18 critical areas — from anti-discrimination protections to gender recognition procedures and criminal penalties. But it goes far beyond legislation:

UN Treaty Bodies – Recommendations and concluding observations searchable by country and theme.
UPR & Special Procedures – Engagement records and communications that show states’ commitments and gaps.
Advanced Search & Comparison – Side-by-side analysis of jurisdictions, thematic filtering, and tailored downloads.

Mid-Year Highlights

In the first half of 2025, thousands of users turned to the database to:

Support asylum claims with verified legal and policy data
Equip grassroots campaigns with evidence to challenge harmful laws
Help journalists fact-check and report global legal trends
Guide policymakers drafting inclusive legislation or reforms

During Pride Month, ILGA World released updated global maps and data visualisations, illustrating both progress and urgent challenges in the legal landscape. These visuals reached international media outlets, sparking informed debate on the state of LGBTI rights worldwide.

External Recognition

A Geneva Academy review praised the ILGA World Database as a “powerful tracking tool for human rights advocacy”, noting its role in making complex legal information accessible to a global audience. This endorsement reflects what we hear directly from users: that having trusted, timely data is essential to making strategic, impactful change.

Turning Data into Advocacy: Protecting LGBTI Rights in Asia

In early 2025, ILGA World worked closely with partners in Asia to finalise a national advocacy strategy aimed at challenging discriminatory laws. Using the ILGA World Database, the team compiled a detailed legal profile of the country — including current legislation, international treaty body recommendations, and comparative examples from neighbouring states with stronger protections.

This evidence became the backbone of meetings with national stakeholders, where advocates could clearly demonstrate how existing laws violated human rights obligations and present concrete pathways for reform.

One partner shared that having clear, verified, and global-context data at our fingertips not only strengthened their arguments but also gave them the confidence to push harder for change.

The result? A coordinated plan of action now in place, supported by evidence drawn directly from the database — proof of how access to reliable legal data can turn advocacy into measurable progress.

Why Your Support Matters

Your contributions keep the database accurate, accessible, and free — levelling the playing field so that an activist in a restrictive legal environment has the same information as those in well-resourced contexts. Donations directly fund:

Continuous legal monitoring and data verification
Development of new search and visualisation features
Expansion of language access to reach more communities

Looking Ahead

In the coming months, we will integrate even more UN mechanism data, expand our country profiles with contextual analysis, and enhance the user interface for smoother navigation. Each improvement helps defenders, researchers, and decision-makers access the information they need to push for change.

By supporting the ILGA World Database, you are not just funding information — you are fuelling the change-makers who transform that information into action.

Explore the database

Links:

ILGA World Database

Attachments:

Laws on Us Report (2024) (PDF)

1 Attachment

Permalink

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.