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| Nuove leggi sui gay in Europa |
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| Ilga Europe, l'organizzazione che difende i diritti degli omosessuali in Europa, traccia un resoconto di quello che si muove nelle legislazioni di alcuni paesi europei, dalla recente approvazione dei matrimoni gay in Germania, alla situazione nei paesi dell'Est. In inglese.
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| Martedì 05 Dicembre 2000 |
| di Gay.it |
| in Focus |
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STATEMENT to the OSCE IMPLEMENTATION MEETING ON HUMAN DIMENSION ISSUES Warsaw (23 October 2000) By Kurt Krickler Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this meeting on behalf of the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), a federation of organisations fighting for equality and equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and against discrimination based on sexual orientation. ILGA-Europe has around 160 member organisations in almost all European countries. ILGA has been participating as an NGO in the Human Dimension of the OSCE since the Moscow meeting in 1991. Since 1993, we have been presenting oral statements to the Human Dimension, reporting positive developments in participating States but also reminding non-complying States to honour their commitments entered not only under the OSCE process but also under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Human Rights Convention. Since last year’s Review Conference in Vienna, we can note that some quite remarkable and substantial progress has been made in particular at the European level: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted two historic reports and resolutions. On 30 June, one on the “situation of gays and lesbians and their partners in respect to asylum and immigration in the member states of the Council of Europe”, calling for the recognition of persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation for the purposes of asylum and for granting bi-national same-sex couples the same residence rights as bi-national heterosexual couples. Only a month ago, on 26 September, the other resolution - on the “situation of lesbians and gays in Council of Europe member states” was adopted calling upon all 41 member states to include sexual orientation among the prohibited grounds for discrimination in national legislation; to decriminalise homosexuality among consenting adults, to apply the same minimum age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual acts, and to give legal recognition to same-sex couples by providing registered partnership legislation. This is indeed a very far-reaching Recommendation. And perfectly in line with recent judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. In September last year, the Court ruled that the ban against gays and lesbians to serve in the British armed forces constitutes a violation of the European Human Rights Convention, challenging similar provisions in Germany, Greece, Poland and Turkey. In December 1999, the Court ruled that the decision of a Portuguese court to take away from a man custody rights over his daughter because of his homosexuality also was in breach of the Convention. And in July of this year, the Court ruled that the total ban in the United Kingdom on homosexual acts between consenting adult men in case that more than two persons are involved, again constitute a violation of the Convention. Also at European Union level, there have been some very positive developments in the last twelve months. On the very day of the opening of this meeting, last Tuesday, the Council of Social Affairs ministers adopted a directive to prohibit discrimination on various grounds, including sexual orientation, in all aspects of employment and occupation. Within three years, all 15 Member States will now have to implement the directive into national anti-discrimination laws. And all 13 accession countries will also have to implement this directive before joining the EU. On the same occasion, the Council adopted a 6-year programme to combat discrimination on various grounds, with a budget of almost 100 million euros. Earlier this month, the Convent tasked to draw up a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union presented its draft to the European Council meeting in Biarritz. Article 21 in this draft provides for the prohibition of all discrimination based, among other grounds, on sexual orientation. Clearly, ILGA-Europe is quite satisfied with all these extremely positive developments at the European level. Therefore, we feel it is time for the OSCE to also speak out against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in an appropriate statement. This aspect of human rights should no longer be ignored by any platform of significance. Also at the national level we can report some positive achievements. I will only mention a few, the most important ones: Azerbaijan repealed the total ban on male homosexual relations, Armenia accepted a similar commitment in the context of her admission to the Council of Europe. France has introduced registered partnership legislation last October, and the Dutch Parliament, last month, voted to open up even traditional marriage for same-sex couples. However, there are still a few countries that prefer to completely ignore these developments and resolutions and continue to violate basic human rights of homosexuals. One of the worst cases among all OSCE countries certainly is Austria where the discriminatory age of consent continues to be applied. This summer the case of a 20 year old men who was convicted because he, at the age of 19, had a consenting sexual relation with another young man, who was almost 17, made international news. Similar cases have been reported in the last months. In another case in Austria, the abuse of psychiatry and justice against one homosexual convicted under this provision can only be compared to the abuse in former Soviet gulags. The man was sentenced to a one-year prison term and due to previous convictions, to detention in an institution for mentally abnormal offenders. When the Court had to do its annual review with regard to the necessity for a continuing detention, the prolongation of the detention was ordered although neither the judge nor the psychiatrist who gave his expert assessment had seen the detainee face-to-face. The European Union missed a unique chance to force Austria to stop these human rights violations against homosexuals this summer when the 14 failed to put this as a condition for lifting the measures against the Austrian government. By doing so the European Union not only approved of these human rights violations and reinforced Austria in its position but also gave the impression that human rights violations against homosexuals actually do belong to the so-called common European values. Austria has ignored two recommendations by the Council of Europe, five resolutions by the European Parliament, a decision by the European Human Rights Commission and a request by the United Nations Human Rights Committee after its consideration of Austria’s third periodic report submitted under Article 40 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, all demanding the repeal of this criminal law provision. The refusal of Austria to stop these human rights violations is a disgrace for Europe. We, therefore, strongly appeal to all of you to exert pressure on Austria to stop these abuses, stop the gulag and to immediately release from prison all those jailed under this law, a demand also made by the European Parliament on two occasions already. ISRAEL LOWERS AGE OF CONSENT FOR GAY SEX By Rex Wochner Israel has lowered the age of consent for gay sex from 18 to 16, in line with that for heterosexuals. The penal code was changed in July but the move was not publicized until Nov. 1 when gay activists realized that gay teens were unaware of the change. Homosexual relations also were legalized for 14- and 15-year-olds as long as their sexual partners are not more than three years older than they are. Many European nations have a lower age of consent than Israel, including Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain (12); Germany, Iceland, Italy, San Marino and Slovenia (14); and the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden (15), according to testimony presented to the Knesset by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Association of Homosexuals and Lesbians.
Steffen Jensen E-mail: steff@inet.uni2.dk http://www.SteffenJensen.dk Tel. + 45 3324 6435 Fax: + 45 4049 5297
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