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Council of Europe May Approve Homosexual Marriage

Criticizes Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland and Latvia

By Maciej Golubiewski    

WASHINGTON, DC , May 22, 2008 (C-FAM)- A few weeks ago the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted in favor of a non-binding resolution calling on European nations to make abortion a human right.  The same assembly is soon to vote on a resolution calling for legalization of homosexual marriage.
    
The committee debating the resolution considered disparate treatment of “same-sex couples” to be “unlawful discrimination” and urged that European countries aspire to be “tolerant, pluralist and broadminded.”  The committee called for PACE to “study the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in Europe” and make further appropriate recommendations.  The committee has criticized Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland and Latvia, where it sent several fact-finding missions.  The constitutions of Poland and Latvia reserve marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples.

The European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) is spearheading a campaign with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to oppose the draft resolution.  ECLJ counsel Gregor Puppinck said that "the European Convention of Human Rights states expressly in Article 12 that the ‘right to marry and to found a family’ is guaranteed to ‘men and women of marriageable age.’ The European Court of Human Right cannot, and has always refused to infer from this article, a ‘human right’ for homosexuals to marry." 

The ECLJ also warns of mixing legitimate concerns of violence against homosexuals with illegitimate incursions on prerogatives explicitly reserved to nation states in international law. ECLJ explains that Article 12 permits regulation of marriage “according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.”  ECLJ has also complained about the lack of transparency in the drafting process.  The PACE committees keep resolution drafts secret before introducing them on the floor, leaving little time for comment. 

At the same time, the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, published an official communication calling for including “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected categories under European human rights law.  He praised the Yogyakarta Principles, an NGO document drafted two years ago by left-wing lawyers and activists.   The Yogyakarta Principles recommends policies that would “recogniserecognize the diversity of family forms,” challenge notions of “public morality” in domestic law, and promote curricula that “serve to enhance…respect for diverse sexual orientations and gender identities” in public schools.

In a parallel development, yesterday the European Parliament – a separate body attached to the European Union (EU) – voted in its own non-binding resolution advocating a ban on all forms of discrimination, including sexual orientation, in all areas of EU law.  The resolution puts pressure on the European Commission, which is expected to submit a proposal for a binding anti-discrimination directive to the European Parliament by the end of this year.  A few weeks ago, the European Commission withdrew its plans for a directive that would cover sexual discrimination, which gave the left-wing parliamentarians an impetus for passing yesterday’s resolution.

The Council of Europe is distinct from the EU; it is larger with 47 Member States, and also older.  The Council of Europe is considered the chief protector and promoter of human rights in Europe.

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