Friday

29th Mar 2024

Opinion

No more hiding of homosexuality

  • The EU court in Luxembourg: sexuality is an integral part of people's identity (Photo: ILGA-Europe)

The EU Court of Justice delivered on 7 November a judgment clarifying various aspects of EU asylum law in its application to claims by gay asylum seekers from countries where homosexuality is criminalised.

The media mostly focused on the fact that the court confirmed that people persecuted in their home countries because of their sexual orientation form a “particular social group” in the sense of the Geneva convention and of EU law.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

They also noted that the court considered that only when sanctions against homosexuals are applied can a country be considered to be persecuting them.

Another significant but related aspect of the judgment was left unnoticed.

This aspect concerns one of the most bizarre practices by asylum authorities in some EU countries: they simply tell gay and lesbian asylum seekers to hide, tone down, be discreet or completely secret about their homosexuality to avoid persecution.

Therefore, such applicants see their asylum claims dismissed and are often returned to their countries of origin.

The court now made it clear that lesbian and gay asylum seekers who are escaping their home countries because of fear of persecution based on their sexual orientation cannot be expected to “conceal [their] homosexuality in [their] country of origin or exercise restraint in expressing it."

This is consistent with a full and correct interpretation of the concept of “particular social group,” which according to EU law characterises persons sharing a “characteristic that is so fundamental to [their] identity … that [they] should not be forced to renounce it," as recalled by the court.

There are still 76 countries in the world where adult individuals risk criminal sanctions for consensual same-sex sexual acts and five countries where such acts are punished by death.

Hopefully, this judgement will end a completely unreasonable and degrading practice in some EU countries where lesbian and gay asylum seekers are told to tone down their homosexuality, be discreet, and therefore "safe" back in their home countries.

The writers are activists in ILGA-Europe, a Brussels-based NGO

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

The EU-Ukraine tango on gay rights

If Ukraine does not pass a key anti-discrimination rights bill before the Vilnius summit, the chances of it coming into law afterward are slim.

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Column

EU's Gaza policy: boon for dictators, bad for democrats

While they woo dictators and autocrats, EU policymakers are becoming ever more estranged from the world's democrats. The real tragedy is the erosion of one of Europe's key assets: its huge reserves of soft power, writes Shada Islam.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us