The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday condemned Russia for refusing to marry same-sex couples, pointing to the absence “of intention to modify its law on the question“.
According to a judgment of the ECHR, the denial of any form of legal recognition and protection constitutes a “violation of the right to respect for private and family lifeguaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights in its article 8.
Requests that would go against “established national traditions”
Since 2009, three same-sex couples had submitted marriage applications to civil status offices in Russia. The latter had refused, justifying their decision by Russian law which defines marriage as “the freely consented conjugal union between a man and a woman“. The couples were then repeatedly dismissed by higher courts which ruled that they would “contrary to established national traditions“. Decisions that led these six people to seize the ECHR in 2010 and 2014.
In its judgment, the Court based in Strasbourg (France) recalls having already ruled out in previous decisions concerning Moscow “the (Russian) government’s argument that the majority of Russians disapprove of homosexuality“. According to her, democracy impliesa balance that ensures minority individuals fair treatment» and who avoids «any abuse of a dominant position“.
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The ECHR adds that the case law on Article 8 requires Member States “to provide a legal frameworkallowing same-sex couples to benefit from aadequate recognition and protection“. Gold, “the Court notes that the respondent State did not express before it the intention of amending its domestic law with a view to allowing same-sex couples to benefit from official recognition and from a protection regime“.
Moscow is no longer part of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights since September 16, 2022 but must continue to execute the judgments of the ECHR relating to cases prior to its exit.