At the end of a debate on
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and
gender identity, the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) condemned discrimination and called on
European States to guarantee equal rights, i.e. legal
recognition and equal treatment of same-sex partnerships
and provide for the possibility of "joint parental
responsibility" for each partner's children “bearing in
mind the interests of children”. more
The German federal parliament
(the Bundestag) on 21 April 2010 heard two members of
ECSOL as experts in a public hearing on inclusion of
“sexual identity” into the federal constitution’s bill
of rights. more
11.04.2010 |
Portugal
Constitutional Court Affirms Same-Sex Marriage
The President of the Republic had
some doubts about the constitutionality of the bill
lifting the prohibition of marriage for same-sex couple,
and decided to ask the Constitutional Court to review it
before he signed it. The Court has decided that the bill
is not unconstitutional. The decision is available
online at
www.tribunalconstitucional.pt (in Portuguese only).
If past practice is followed in this case, this means
that the President of the Republic will sign the bill
into law shortly.
31.03.2010
| Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers Recommends to Combat
Sexual-Orientation- & Gender-Identity-Discrimination
The Committe of Ministers of the
Council of Europe (COE) adopted a historical
Recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on
grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The
Recommendation to the 47 member-states of the COE is an
important overarching document which deals with: right
to life, security and protection from violence; freedom
of association; freedom of expression and peaceful
assembly; right to respect for private and family life;
employment; education; health; housing; sports; right to
seek asylum; national human rights structures;
discrimination on multiple grounds. In many respects the
Recommendation reaffirms and specifies the ECtHR;s case
law. The Recommendation has been elaborated by a
COE-expert-commission presided by Swedish ECSOL-member
Hans Ytterberg.
The Hungarian Constitutional
Court has delivered its opinion on the Act on Registered
Partnership that entered into force on July 1, 2009. The
Court considered nine petitions among them a petition
from the Christian Democratic Peoples Party (sister
party of FIDESZ, the likely winner of the forthcoming
general elections) and rejected them all, declaring that
the Act is in line with constitutional requirements. more
In a sensationally speedy
decision the Austrian Administrative Supreme Court
quashed as unlawful a decision by the Ministry of
Interior, which – despite constant case-law to the
contrary – required a transsexual woman to remove her
genitals. Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL), Austria’s civil
rights organisation for homo- and bisexual as well as
transgender women and men, calls for the misuse of power
committed in the Ministry of Interior to lead to
consequences. more
Fascinating interview with Piotr
Kozak, applicant in Kozak
v. Poland, providing an interesting insight into the
real life of Polish gay community. more
11.03.2010 |
European Union
ECSOL-Factsheet on Lisbon-Treaty
The new EU treaties introduce
equality mainstreaming with respect also to sexual
orientation in all Union activities, attach the same
legal value to the Fundamental Rights Charter (probiting
sexual orientation discrimination) as to the Treaties
and offers potential for recognition on same-sex
marriages, registered partnerships and rainbow-families
in crossborder-cases. ECSOL has elaborated a fact-sheet
on these important progress in Union law. Factsheet
The Supreme Court of Slovenia has
upheld a US ruling which allowed a gay couple with dual
US-Slovenian citizenship to adopt a girl in America,
making the couple the girl's legal parents in Slovenia
as well. more
16.02.2010 |
EU-Agency for Fundamental Rights
ECSOL accepted to the Fundamental Rights Platform
The European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (http://fra.europa.eu)
accepted the European Commission on Sexual Orientation
Law (ECSOL) as a member of its Fundamental Rights
Platform. The Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) (http://fra.europa.eu)
is a network for cooperation and information exchange,
set to act as the main channel for FRA's cooperation
with civil society and to ensure a close cooperation
between the Agency and relevant stakeholders.
Today the plenary session of the
European Parliament adopted reports on the accession to
the European Union for Croatia, the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. All three reports call
on candidate countries to provide genuine protection to
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender minorities, and
remind candidate countries that the protection of all
minorities is a non-negotiable condition to access the
European Union.more
08.02.2010 |
Albania
Albania passes
comprehensive anti-discrimination law
Albania's Parliament banned
discrimination and harassment based on sexual
orientation and gender identity, last week. Details
On 21st December 2009 Mexico's
Federal District, by amendments to its Civil Code,
opened up civil marriage for same-sex couples and
allowed joint adoption.more
The Privy Council (the final
court of appeal for Gibraltar) decided that a
prohibition on the grant of joint tenancies to unmarried
partners (unless they had a child in common) unlawfully
discriminated against same sex partners and violated the
Gibraltar constitution.more
The Irish Supreme Court ruled
that a gay man who acted as sperm donor for a lesbian
couple is entitled to access (contact) though not
guardianship (parental responsibility) in respect of the
couple’s child. (McD. v. L.) In doing so, the Supreme
Court reversed in part an earlier High Court decision
denying access on the basis that this would not have
been in the best interests of the child. The Supreme
Court, however, did uphold ‘for the present time’ the
High Court’s decision not to confer guardianship on the
father.more
The Stockholm Programme adopted
by the European Council states (p. 14): "Since diversity
enriches the Union, the EU and its Member States must
provide a safe environment where differences are
respected and the most vulnerable protected. Measures to
tackle discrimination, racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia
and homophobia must be vigorously pursued.more
02.12.2009 |
European Union
European Council Declares Homophobia an EU Priority
The Stockholm Programme adopted
by the European Council states (p. 14): "Since diversity
enriches the Union, the EU and its Member States must
provide a safe environment where differences are
respected and the most vulnerable protected. Measures to
tackle discrimination, racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia
and homophobia must be vigorously pursued". Stockholm
Programme
In Schalk & Kopf v. Austria (Application No. 30141/04)
the First Section of the Court has postponed the oral
hearing on the admissibility and merits of the
application to Thursday, 25 February 2010 at 9:00 am.www.echr.coe.int
A male-female couple with cohabitation agreement in
Netherlands with the male partner being an official of
an EU institution sought sickness insurance for the
female partner. The General Court, in a judgment of 15
October 2009 (Commission v Anton Pieter Roodhuijzen, T
58/08 P), found that she is eligible even though the
cohabitation agreement does not give rise to legal
consequences similar to those of marriage in the
Netherlands. The same reasoning should apply to same-sex
cohabitation agreement. Press
release The
judgment
In Schalk & Kopf v. Austria (Application No. 30141/04) the First Section of the Court (which includes the Austrian judge) has scheduled an oral hearing on the admissibility and merits of the application for Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 9:00 am, before a 7-judge Chamber of the Court (which has 47 judges, one per Council of Europe member state). Hearings are now exceptional, because of the Court's heavy caseload, so this indicates the importance of the case.more
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has given Russia until January 20 to answer the cases of the bans of the Moscow Pride marches and pickets in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Those cases are represented before the ECtHR by Russian ECSOL-member, Dmitri Bartenev. more
The DAAD Alumni Club of Montenegro is hosting the conference Justice in the
Balkans: Equality for Sexual Minorities in Podgorica 23-25 October 2009. The European
Commission on Sexual Oriention Law (ECSOL) gladly serves as a partner to this outstanding
event in a very sensitive region. Ministers and representatives of Balkan governments,
lawyers, academics and activists from Europe and North America will be present. Register
now! more
Years after repeal by the Constitutional Court the Vienna Appeals Court justified
former anti-homosexual Art. 209 of the Austrian Criminal Code as “morally
understandable” (OLG Wien 13.06.2006, 20 Bs 155/06z). The European Court of Human
Rights now communicated six cases concerning the nationwide criminal record and the use of
prior homophobic convictions still listed there to the Austrian government. more
The 2nd International Conference on LGBT Human Rights has been held
27-29 July 2009 as part of World
Outgames 2009 in Copenhagen. ECSOL provided a stream of 6 workshops on various aspects of
national and European law. These workshops provoked considerable interest and lively
discussions from the audience which highly esteemed the various high level presentations.
Prior to the conference, on 26 July 2009, ECSOL held a fruitful and productive internal
members working meeting. more
18.07.2009 | Vienna ECSOL-meeting 2008
The European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL) held its 2008 members
meeting 31 Oct to 2 Nov 08 in Vienna. Alongside this meeting, which was organised by
Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL), ECSOL
provided a workshop on the case-law of the European Court of Justice at ILGA-Europe’s
simultaneously held Annual Conference. Dr. Mia Witmann-Tiwald, judge at the Vienna Court
of Appeals, gave us the honour and guided ECSOL-members through Vienna’s Palace of
Justice and presented not only the building and the courts hosted there but also
provided a very interesting journey into Austria’s legal history.
