International Day against Homophobia

Introductory Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

16 May 2008

Dear Colleagues, friends,

I welcome you most warmly to this conference marking the International Day against homophobia and I greet all our colleagues who follow this event live via the portal.

This is the second year that we celebrate this special day. I am delighted that this date is now becoming a highlight of the Council of Europe’s calendar.

As you will remember, last year we heard Louis-Georges Tin, who is at the origins of the International Day against homophobia. His presentation was instrumental in introducing the debate and raising awareness among our staff of this topic.

This year, I would like us to take the next step and to focus the discussion on the specific steps that have been taken – or should be taken - in our member states to respect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual persons in Europe.

I have the honour to welcome Ms Joke Swiebel, former member of the European Parliament and Chairperson of the European Parliament's Gay and Lesbian Intergroup.

Two colleagues from the Secretariat will join her as keynote speakers:

Dennis van der Veur, Adviser to the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and

Gaël Martin-Micallef, Head of the Equality in Diversity Group, the LGBT Group of the Staff Amicale.

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Before I give the floor to our guests, let me share with you my thoughts about developments within the Secretariat in the field of combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

As you surely know, this issue is a priority for our internal “equality watchdog”, the Equal Opportunities Board, which I chair. I think that there has been substantial progress since 2005. This is largely due to our good relationship and co-operation with the dynamic LGBT Staff Association. Amongst other issues, the Equal Opportunities Board has been working on our Staff Regulations, which grant a number of rights to married staff members, leaving a significant gap in protection, especially as regards pension rights, for those staff members unable to marry their same-sex partners.

In 2006 two specific articles on non-discrimination were introduced into the Staff Regulations in which sexual orientation was explicitly included among the possible grounds listed. Similarly, all internal and external vacancy notices now mention the Council’s commitment to equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

Last year, I defended before the Committee of Ministers a draft Resolution on the recognition of the rights of staff members who cannot enter into marriage with their same-sex partners. This text has the same wording as the one adopted within the Staff Regulations of the European Commission.

Unfortunately the discussions within the Committee of Ministers have so far not led to results: it appears that opinions among our member states on this issue are still divergent.

I strongly regret this situation.
The adoption of such a resolution would put an end to current discrimination among staff members and I hope that the Committee of Ministers will reopen the discussion soon. I can assure you that the Secretary General and I will continue to work hard to convince the Committee of Ministers.

Let me also say that I give my full support to the LGBT Group. I meet with members of this Group regularly. Last December for instance, we discussed together the Jogjakarta principles on the application of international human rights legislation in the field of sexual orientation and gender identity.

As you probably know, these principles have been developed by a group of human rights experts from various regions and backgrounds.

As a follow-up to this discussion, the Secretary General has made proposals to the Committee of Ministers to ascertain the extent to which these principles might be applicable in the Council of Europe.

I refer you to Information Document SG/Inf (2008)4, which proposes to the Committee of Ministers:

to give ad hoc terms of reference to the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to draft a Recommendation on measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and to promote tolerance and respect for human rights in these matters;
to give ad hoc terms of reference to the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) to examine, within the framework of its activities in the field of family law, the topic of various forms of marital and non-marital partnerships and cohabitation with a view to identifying measures to avoid discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity;
to address a message to all Steering Committees inviting them to give due attention in their current and future activities to the need for member states to avoid and remedy any discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity and to make proposals for specific intergovernmental and other activities designed to strengthen, in law and in practice, the equal rights and dignity of LGBT persons and to combat discriminatory attitudes against them in society;
to issue a call to all member states which have not yet done so, to sign and ratify Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Specific terms of reference to all these committees are being proposed and will be considered by GR-H on 12 June.

* * *

I would like now to say a few words on the role of the Council of Europe concerning the rights of LGBT persons in Europe.

Among our member states, positions on the question of sexual orientation are quite varied, as I have already mentioned. The Council of Europe can offer experience in standard-setting and in providing expertise and advice for reform, support for civil society through our extensive network of contacts, as well as simply providing a forum for reflection, debate and exchange of best practice between member states.

The European Court of Human Rights has played a major role in the decriminalisation of consensual homosexual conduct in private between adults – and that goes back to the landmark Dudgeon judgement (1981).

Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Protocol 12 adopted in 2000 (still not ratified by all member states) form a solid basis for protecting the access of all persons to fundamental rights, without discrimination. The non-discrimination clause has been used now in a number of cases citing discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, in combination for example with Article 8 on the right to private and family life.

I am most grateful that ILGA Europe has included a direct link from its internet website to the case-law of the European Convention of Human Rights on this topic, and I invite you to consult this body of case-law, which provides some interesting food for thought.

Attitudes in Europe and perhaps in the world are changing, but there is still a long way to go and the road will have ups and downs.

As you know, back in 2000 the Parliamentary Assembly adopted Recommendation 1474 (2000) on the Situation of lesbians and gays in the Council of Europe member states. Yet last autumn, Patriarch Alexei of Russia made strong verbal attacks against homosexuals in the Parliamentary Assembly Chamber – and his words were not met with disapproval by a sizeable part of those present. The Secretary General and I voiced our disagreement with Patriarch Alexei’s remarks.

As recently as a fortnight ago, a French man lost his French citizenship after marrying a man in the Netherlands, where same sex marriage is legal. While French law in principle does not tolerate dual citizenship, there is a Franco-Dutch treaty allowing French citizens who marry Dutch nationals to have dual French and Dutch citizenship. However, France does not recognise homosexual marriages and thus considers the man in this case to be a single man who has taken on Dutch citizenship. The result is discrimination – the man has been stripped of his French citizenship.

But there is also good news. This morning I was informed that the California Supreme Court, striking down two state laws that had limited marriages to unions between and man and a woman, ruled yesterday that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The Court’s 4-to-3 decision, drawing on a ruling six decades ago that struck down the state’s ban on interracial marriage, would make California only the second US state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriages.

I believe we have to voice clearly our commitment, and that of our Organisation, to condemning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and working patiently and consistently to bring about change.

You will hear later on from our colleague Dennis van der Veur that the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe is also outspoken in defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual persons throughout Europe.

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My introductory words will finish with an apology – I have to leave you now because I have another longstanding commitment. However, I will be back to listen to the debate and the conclusions and I look forward to continuing the discussion informally during the vin d’honneur to which it is my pleasure to invite you all after the conference.

I now invite Mario Martins to take over the role of the chair.

Thank you.