Sexual Orientation Equality In Central And Eastern Europe : The Role Of The European Convention On Human Rights

For six decades the European Convention on Human Rights has been a beacon of hope for people in Europe suffering discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Since the early 1990s, following the expansion of the Council of Europe to include 22 former communist states, the Convention has become an important means by which to promote sexual orientation equality in Central and Eastern Europe. In this article we provide a systematic examination of how the Convention is being used, in the European Court of Human Rights, to challenge sexual orientation discrimination in Central and Eastern European states. We discuss the issues relating to sexual orientation discrimination in these states that have been raised before the Court and, in turn, assess how the Court has developed Convention jurisprudence to address them. We situate this analysis in the broader context of the contribution of Central and Eastern European states to shaping the approach of the Council of Europe’s statutory organs to sexual orientation equality, which influences the work of the Court. Our overall conclusion is that, notwithstanding certain limitations and problems, there is significant scope for sexual minorities in Central and Eastern European states to use the Convention more systematically to challenge aspects of sexual orientation discrimination.