Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, ‘Situation of gays and lesbians and their partners in respect to asylum and immigration in the member states of the Council of Europe’, 2000
- Category: Reports
- Source: Council of Europe
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Refugee/Asylum, Migration
- Place: Europe
- Year: 2000
- File: Situation of gays and lesbians and their partners in respect to asylum and immigration in the member states of the Council of Europe
- URL: https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp?FileID=8864
Report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, ‘Situation of gays and lesbians and their partners in respect to asylum and immigration in the member states of the Council of Europe’, Doc. 8654, 25 February 2000 (Rapporteur: Mrs Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, Switzerland, Socialist Group)
Summary
The Assembly is concerned by the fact that immigration policies in most Council of Europe member states discriminate against lesbians and gays.
The majority of them do not recognise persecution for sexual orientation as a valid ground for granting asylum, and the rules concerning family reunion and social benefits usually do not apply to same-sex partnerships. The Assembly is also aware that the failure of most member states to provide residence rights to the foreign partner in a bi-national partnership is a serious problem for many gays and lesbians.
The Assembly is of the opinion that homosexuals who have a well-founded fear of persecution resulting from their sexual preference are refugees in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention, and proposes the development of guidelines for the treatment of homosexuals who are refugees or partners of a bi-national relationship.
Furthermore, the Assembly calls on the Committee of Ministers to examine these issues and to set up a European system for the documentation of abuses against homosexuals.