CoE Human Rights Commissioner Urges Georgia to Reject Anti-LGBT Law, Refrain from Stigmatizing Rhetoric
On September 10, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, published his September 6 letter Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili. In the letter, the Commissioner urges the Parliament to drop the anti-LGBT legislation, which recently passed in the second hearing, and to “refrain from using rhetoric that stigmatises LGBTI people, including depicting their legitimate actions to obtain equal rights as LGBTI “propaganda/promotion.”
The Commissioner also calls on the Georgian authorities to “engage with national and international partners, including the Council of Europe, on how best to protect the human rights of LGBTI people and combat discrimination against them.”
“The draft law provides a legal footing for discrimination against LGBTI people and appears to be at variance with the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention),” Commissioner O’Flaherty writes, and offers a brief overview of some of the relevant caselaw of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Commissioner, among others, is also “concerned about prejudice against LGBTI people in segments of Georgian society, including among some politicians,” and recalls the statements by his predecessorts that “LGBTI people continue to be the target of hate crimes and discrimination.”
He also mentions that the several provisions of the draft anti-LGBT law list sexual orientation and gender identity alongside incest. “Doing so only perpetuates the stigma and discrimination faced by LGBTI people,” he argues.
“When it comes to ensuring effective protection of children against incest, sexual exploitation and abuse, and bearing in mind that Georgia is a party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (also known as the “Lanzarote Convention”), any existing lacuna in this domain should be addressed through a targeted legislative intervention, without jeopardising any other human rights protected under the Convention, and without encouraging societal prejudices against LGBTI people,” Commissioner O’Flaherty writes.
In the letter, the Commissioner asks the Georgian Parliament Speaker to ensure that all Georgian MPs receive its copy. “I stand ready to continue our constructive dialogue on this and other human rights issues in Georgia,” he concludes.
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