European Court of Human Rights and litigation

ILGA-Europe has grouped the most important judgments on sexual orientation and gender identity issues from the European Court of Human Rights. To keep things simple we do not as a rule include cases which repeat principles established in earlier cases, nor do we include cases which have been superceded or were unsuccessful.

Cases are categorised according to the following broad headings:

1. Basic rights and individual rights (but excluding same-sex family issues and trans specific issues)

2. Same-sex family related issues

3. Trans specific issues

To gain an overview of the whole field, look at this summary prepared by ILGA-Europe's Council of Europe legal adviser, Professor Robert Wintemute. It documents the key cases which over the last 30 years have progressively tackled areas of discrimination and inequality, starting with the challenge to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships. It categorises cases under:

• "basic rights" (the right to life, prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, freedom of expression, assembly and association)
• "individual rights" (decriminalisation, age of consent, legal recognition of gender reassignment, employment etc)
• "couple rights" (equal rights for same-sex couples, and for couples involving a transsexual person)

Find the summary here.

For a more in-depth exposition of key cases, consult the summaries prepared by INTERIGHTS (The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights)

• Compilation of judgments relevant to sexual orientation from the European Court of Human Rights, July 2010, Produced by Interights. Updated January 2011
• Compilation of jurisprudence on transgender rights, March 2010, Produced by Interights. Updated January 2011