ECHR jurisprudence, LGBT rights, European human rights law

O presente ensaio enquadra-se na disciplina de Políticas Sociais e Cidadania do Mestrado de Sociologia da Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra. Este trabalho pretende compreender conceitos como Exclusão Social e Discriminação com base no Género ou Orientação Sexual. É ainda destacado de forma breve e sucinta as políticas sobre a Sexualidade em Portugal.

In the past few decades, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has decided a high number of cases dealing with Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transsexual (LGBT) rights. Its judgments importantly shape the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and, thus, the legal obligations of the Member States to the Convention. Therefore, a benevolent decision by the ECtHR can be an important victory in the struggle for LGBT rights. Decisions by the ECtHR have the character of de facto policies. This fact opens up promising opportunities for advocates; by means of litigation, they can engage in the judicial decision making process.
This paper will shortly introduce the topic of LGBT rights litigation before the ECtHR (1), discuss the Court as a policy maker (2) and the purpose of strategic litigation (3), and examine the opportunities for LGBT rights advocates within the Court’s jurisprudence (4, 5). By proposing an activist-centred reading of the case law, it will discern different “windows of opportunity” for advocacy within the ECtHR’s same-sex family case law (5) and suggests that strategic litigation can be an interesting route towards more equality (6).

This paper appeared in the proceedings from the conference  "Rights On The Move – Rainbow Families in Europe" (pp  53-73), held in Trento (Italy) on 16-17 October 2014, edited by Carlo Casonato and Alexander Schuster.

The proceedings are also available online under: http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/4448/1/Casonato-Schuster-ROTM_Proceedings-2014.pdf

Over the past few years, states have been entering into international agreements that increasingly displace their non-refoulement obligations. Non-refoulement is a legal norm that protects vulnerable people from being expelled and returned to a state where they might face serious mistreatement. This rule has been a cornerstone of the law on international migration and forced movement for a considerable period, even being viewed as a human right by some. However, recently states have begun entering into international agreements and treaties that overcome the non-refoulement obligation through a number of arrangements. This study will proceed by looking at three forms of contracting out of non-refoulement: agreements that establish facts, agreements that establish jurisdiction or agreements creating competing norms. This article seeks to draw attention to these effects, criticize them and emphasize that we should not lose sight of the need to protect vulnerable people from expulsion to situations of serious mistreatment.

Ягунов Д.В. Практика Свропейського суду з прав людини (питання кримінального та цивільного судочинства, захисту власності, при- ватного i  сімейного  життя)  /  Д.  В.  Ягунов  ;  зі  вступ.  словом Й. Л. Бронза та А. С. Костіна. – 4-е вид., перероб. i доп. – Одеса : Фенікс, 2019. – 502 с.

Eerder dit jaar schreef ik over de conclusie van advocaat-generaal Wathelet  in de zaak van Robert Hamilton en Adrian Coman inzak het vrij verkeer voor echtgenoten van gelijk geslacht binnen de EU.  Degenen die begin juni het nieuws volgden is het wellicht niet ontgaan dat het Hof van Justitie inmiddels uitspraak heeft gedaan in die zaak: de bepalingen inzake het vrij verkeer van personen voor echtgenoten gelden evenzeer voor huwelijken van personen van verschillend als van gelijk geslacht.