L.B. v France (Fifth Section) 2021 (ECtHR)

Requête no 67839/17, L.B. contre la France, Cinquieme Section, introduite le 11 septembre 2017, communiquée le 18 mars 2021, publié le 6 avril 2021

Application no 67839/17, L.B. v France, Fifth Section, submitted on 11 September 2017, communicated on 18 March 2021, published on 6 April 2021

Summary

[Source: ELENA Weekly Legal Update – 16 April 2021]

In L.B. v France (application no. 67839/17), the applicant is an intersex person of Moroccan nationality who underwent sexual reassignment treatment in France. He was deported to Morocco after the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons refused to grant him a refugee status. Under Article 3 ECHR, he complains that his expulsion caused an interruption of his medical treatment which is unavailable in Morocco. He also complains that his deportation to a state where being intersex is not accepted and where he is perceived as being homosexual, causes social rejection and criminal prosecution. These risks are aggravated by the lack of a social and family network there and the lack of official recognition of LGBTI organisations. Under Article 8 ECHR he complains that it is impossible to continue medical or surgical treatment that he began in France and he has been deprived of his gender identity.

The ECtHR asks, inter alia, whether domestic remedies had been exhausted and whether the applicant’s deportation to Morocco constitutes a violation of Article 3 ECHR taking into account the Moroccan criminal law and Moroccan society’s perception of intersex and homosexual persons. Lastly, the ECtHR asks whether, in light of Paposhvili, the deportation of an intersex person who had undergone such medical treatment in France, constitutes a violation of Article 3 ECHR, having regard to the unavailability of the such treatment in Morocco.

Based on an unofficial translation by the EWLU team.

For information on the decision in this case, see database entry here.