The Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation has ceased to exist. On 1 January 2009 the Ombudsman was merged with the other Ombudsmen against discrimination into a new body: the Swedish Equality Ombudsman. The previously existing acts against discrimination were also replaced with a new Discrimination Act. Some of the material on this website may therefore be out of date. For more information, see:
www.do.se
Poland was wrong to ban a Gay Pride parade
The European
Court of Human Rights in a unanimous judgment 3 May 2007 condemned Poland
for violating the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fudamental Freedoms.Warsaw authorities in 2005 banned a Gay
Pride parade and several stand still assemblies in connection with that.
The European Court found that Poland... 070504
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ILO Tribunal recognizes same-sex marriages
In a ruling from
the ILO (International Labour Organisation, an agency within the UN)
Administrative Tribunal, the Tribunal orders the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) of the UN to recognize a Dutch marriage between a male
employee and another man for the purposes of staff benefits. The employee
complained of a decision by his Rome-based... 070207
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United Kingdom – inheritance tax – protection of property –
discrimination
In a Chamber judgment issued on 12 December
2006 the European Court of Human Rights, by four votes to three, rejected
an application lodged by two elderly sisters regarding alleged
discrimination in connection with the United Kingdom’s system of
inheritance tax. The sisters, who had lived together all their lives,
complained that... 061212
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Discriminatory housing rules condemned by the Court of Justice
In
its judgement of 24 July 2003, the Court of Justice found that Austria had
contravened the European Convention on Human Rights (the European
Convention). The case involved the right of a surviving same-sex
cohabitant to continue to live in the apartment he had shared with his
partner (who was the official tenant) after his death. The... 030724
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Austria - Age-limit for homosexual relations between men
The
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg pronounced two judgments on 9
January 2003 which rejected rulings by the Austrian courts on the grounds
of breaches of the European Convention. The Court noted that the higher
age of consent which applied for homosexual relations between men in
Austria in comparison with heterosexual or... 030109
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Interpretation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
The
Public administration has an obligation according to the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child to protect children and youth against
discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation (both the child’s and
their custodians). It also has to guarantee the gay, bisexual and lesbian
youth access to information, support and protection... 030101
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Great Britain and Ireland – Prohibition of voluntary homosexual acts
between men – Right to private life and family life
Both
these two cases involved a prohibition under national legislation of
voluntary homosexual acts between adult men. Neither man had been the
object of prosecution or any other action by a public authority. The Court
of Justice of the European Communities nonetheless considered that both
men were entitled to claim that a breach of Article... 021026
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Great Britain – Discharge from the armed forces – Right to private life
This
case involved persons who had all been granted permission to resign from
their duties in the armed forces on the grounds of their sexual
orientation.
The Court of Justice of the European Communities
referred to the previous rulings in the Lustig-Pream and Becket and the
Smith and Grady cases in which the Court had concluded... 021022
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Great Britain – Right to protection of private life and family life –
Right to enter into matrimony
The European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg has established a new precedent as regards the right
to marry. The Court noted that Great Britain had contravened Article 12 of
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms in the form of refusal to allow transsexual persons to marry
after completion... 020711
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UN criticism of Egypt
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a statement criticising Egypt for the arrest of a large number of people in the course of a widely publicised raid on a Cairo nightclub patronised by many homosexuals. The Working Group noted that the imprisonment of some 20 persons who had been accused and sentenced for homosexual activities... 020621
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France – Adoption – Prohibition of discrimination – Right to protection
of private life and family life
In its judgment of 26 February
2002, the Court of Justice of the European Communities pronounced that the
state has a considerable degree of freedom in determining whether
homosexuals are entitled to adopt children.
The case in question
involved a French homosexual man, Monsieur Fretté, who had applied for
personal adoption... 020226
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Great Britain – Age-limit for homosexual relations between men – Right
to private life
This case involved Britain, which had
legislation prohibiting homosexual acts with males under the age of 18.
The age of consent for heterosexual and lesbian relationships was 16. The
plaintiffs claimed that the difference in age-limits constituted
discrimination against the right of homosexual men to have a private life.
The Court of... 010327
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Portugal – Custody – Right to protection of private life and family life
This
case involved a custody dispute between a Portuguese couple who were
divorced. The husband had embarked on a relationship with a man after his
divorce. The Court of Justice of the European Communities noted that the
man’s homosexuality was the crucial reason for the Portuguese court’s
decision to give the mother sole custody... 991221
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Great Britain – Discharge from the armed forces – Right to private life
The
plaintiffs in this case had all served in the British armed forces but had
been discharged due to their homosexual orientation. Decisions to
discharge them had been preceded by detailed interrogation and
investigation. The plaintiffs claimed that the investigations of their
homosexuality and the decisions to discharge them contravened... 990927
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Cyprus – Criminalisation of homosexual relations – Right to protection
of private life
The Court of Justice of the European
Communities has noted in a number of cases that national statutory
provisions which make homosexual relations a criminal act constitute
infringement of the right to private life under Article 8 of the European
Convention. Criminalisation of homosexual acts under Cypriot criminal law
was also considered... 930422
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