The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday condemned Ukraine for discrimination and violation of the right to privacy due to the lack of legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples in the country.
The Court, which monitors compliance with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in the 46 states that have ratified it, had been petitioned by two Ukrainian men who had tried to get married in Ukraine. They had applied to seven different registry offices, but were turned down on the grounds that the Ukrainian Constitution and Family Code expressly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
They argued that it was impossible for them to enter into any other type of civil union recognising their relationship, whereas a “family union” is available to unmarried heterosexual couples.
The judges at the ECHR, which sits in Strasbourg, found that the two plaintiffs had been treated differently from heterosexual couples “solely on the basis” of their sexual orientation.
They ruled that Kyiv had provided no justification for this difference in treatment, and that the reason given by the Ukrainian government – protecting the “traditional family” – was not a valid justification for denying same-sex couples legal recognition and protection.
While the Ukrainian state was “free to restrict access to marriage to heterosexual couples only,” the Court continued, that did not justify excluding same-sex couples from “any legal regime”.
The seven European judges on the bench unanimously concluded that this difference in treatment constituted discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, in breach of the rights enshrined in the Convention that guarantee respect for privacy (Article 8) and prohibit discrimination (Article 14).
They therefore ordered Kyiv to pay each of the plaintiffs €5,000 in compensation for “non-pecuniary damage.”
