This joint ILGA-Europe and COC report is the first of its kind to be published about same-sex relationships and LGBT people in Azerbaijan. It explores identities, common human rights violations, the landscape of LGBT organising, health and HIV/AIDS, and relevant legal aspects. It also provides recommendations to the Azerbaijani government, donors, LGBT activists and international organisations.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are not invisible in the predominantly Muslim Azerbaijani society. Tens of transgender sex workers go into the main street of the capital city Baku every night, prominent showbiz figures barely hide their sexual orientation, mass media gives more space every day to the subject of sexual orientation and gender identities. And yet one should not be misled by this relative visibility: there is a price of estrangement from family, bullying, social exclusion, discrimination, blackmailing and hate crimes attached to it.

Combatting discrimination outside employment. 

This ILGA-Europe’s policy paper argues that there is a clear need for the European Union to move quickly to complement the measures introduced in the area of employment with further legislation designed to prohibit discrimination in other spheres of life such as healthcare, education and housing.

Tenancy for surviving same-sex partner

(Application No. 40016/98), 12 March 2002 

Find Court’s judgement here. (Violation of Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 8)

• The applicant claimed to have been a victim of discrimination on the ground of his sexual orientation in that he was denied the status of “life companion” of the late Mr W., thereby preventing him from succeeding to Mr W.’s tenancy.
• ILGA-Europe, together with Liberty and Stonewall, submitted the following:
  • There is a sufficiently broad European consensus that unmarried same-sex partners (with or without children) enjoy “family life” in the same way as unmarried different-sex partners (with or without children).
  • This requires that, where an unmarried different-sex partner qualifies to succeed to the tenancy of an apartment or house after the death of their partner (the legal tenant), an unmarried same-sex partner must receive the same protection against having the loss of their partner, and the trauma of bereavement, compounded by the hardship of suddenly losing their home.
• The European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in 2003.
• The Court recognised that the subject matter of the application involved an important question of general interest not only for Austria but also for other States Parties to the Convention. In this connection the Court referred to the submissions made by ILGA-Europe, Liberty and Stonewall, whose intervention in the proceedings as third parties was authorised as it highlighted the general importance of the issue (para 27). The Court reiterated that differences based on sexual orientation require particularly serious reasons by way of justification. It found that the Government had not offered convincing and weighty reasons justifying the discriminatory treatment against the partner of the same sex, which thus constituted a violation of Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 8.

This guide, published in 1999, focuses on the implications of the Amsterdam Treaty in relation to sexual orientation discrimination. It is available in 6 languages.

The Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force on 1 May 1999, marks a significant milestone for lesbians and gay men in the European Union. The changes introduced by the Treaty include a new clause, Article 13, which covers discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, together with sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion, belief, disability and age. This is the first time that any express reference to discrimination on grounds other than sex or nationality has appeared in the Treaties. It follows extensive campaigning by non-governmental organisations, including ILGA-Europe.

Article 13 ends any doubt about whether the Community has the legal competence to adopt legislation and policies to address discrimination on the grounds listed within it. The debate is now about what action can and should be taken. But what does Article 13 mean? What are the implications of the new Treaty? What opportunities does it offer for concrete action on discrimination?

ILGA-Europe has produced this guide as a contribution to that debate and to promoting wider participation in it. The guide focuses on the implications of the Amsterdam Treaty in relation to sexual orientation and discrimination. It is not possible within the scope of this guide to provide a detailed examination of the implications of the Treaty in relation to the other grounds of discrimination listed in Article 13, although they are all of direct relevance to lesbians and gay men.

This report maps the legal and social situation of lesbians and gay men in all 15 EU member states and formulates a series of recommendations to improve this situation. It is available in 5 languages.

Published in 1998.

Equal rights and social justice for lesbians and gay men have never been high up on the political agenda of the European Communities. Although the European Parliament has adopted several resolutions calling for steps to be taken to promote equality for lesbians and gay men, the first as early as 1984 and the most comprehensive (Equal rights for homosexuals and lesbians in the EC – Document A3-0028/94) in 1994, these have not been acted on by the Commission or the Council. The Treaty of Amsterdam, once ratified, will remove any doubt as to whether the European Union has the power to introduce anti-discrimination measures which address discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Article 6a of this Treaty, to become Article 13 of the consolidated EC Treaty, states that “the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation”. However, such action can only be taken “within the limits of the powers conferred … upon the Community” by the Treaty. Therefore, the key question now is whether the Council (that is, the fifteen Member States) will unanimously agree to adopt substantial measures against such discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation.

As this report shows, while lesbians and gay men continue to face significant discrimination in many areas of their lives, a majority (eight) of the EU Member States now have at least some form of national anti-discrimination provisions which include discrimination based on sexual orientation. There is thus both the need for concrete measures to be taken at a European level and some positive indications of a basis of support for such measures.