The Committe of Ministers of the Council of Europe (COE) adopted a historical Recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Recommendation to the 47 member-states of the COE is an important overarching document which deals with: right to life, security and protection from violence; freedom of association; freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; right to respect for private and family life; employment; education; health; housing; sports; right to seek asylum; national human rights structures; discrimination on multiple grounds. In many respects the Recommendation reaffirms and specifies the ECtHR;s case law. The Recommendation has been elaborated by a COE-expert-commission presided by Swedish ECSOL-member Hans Ytterberg.

The full text of the Recommendation: https://wcd.coe.int
The Explanatory Report: https://wcd.coe.int

The Hungarian Constitutional Court has delivered its opinion on the Act on Registered Partnership that entered into force on July 1, 2009. The Court considered nine petitions among them a petition from the Christian Democratic Peoples Party (sister party of FIDESZ, the likely winner of the forthcoming general elections) and rejected them all, declaring that the Act is in line with constitutional requirements.

In a sensationally speedy decision the Austrian Administrative Supreme Court quashed as unlawful a decision by the Ministry of Interior, which – despite constant case-law to the contrary – required a transsexual woman to remove her genitals. Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL), Austria’s civil rights organisation for homo- and bisexual as well as transgender women and men, calls for the misuse of power committed in the Ministry of Interior to lead to consequences.

Fascinating interview with Piotr Kozak, applicant in Kozak v. Poland, providing an interesting insight into the real life of Polish gay community.