The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, addressed a letter to the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, where he asks the members of the Parliament to refrain from approving the draft law “On Family Values and Protection of Minors” passed in the second reading on September 4, 2024, – the Council of Europe reports.
O’Flaherty also calls on members of parliament to work with national and international partners to protect the rights of LGBT people, fight discrimination against them, and refrain from using rhetoric that stigmatizes LGBT people.
The Commissioner emphasizes that the bill provides a legal basis for discrimination against LGBT people and is against the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to his own assessment, the bill “continues to stigmatize and discriminate against LGBT people by listing sexual orientation and gender identity alongside incest.”
He further states that the content of the bill is similar to the constitutional bill “On Family Values and Protection of Minors” registered in the Parliament on April 3, 2024, in connection with which the European Commission for the Protection of Democracy through Law concluded that “the proposal to adopt this text against LGBT people in Georgia threatens to further strengthen the hostile and stigmatized atmosphere.”
“According to the well-established case law of the European Court of Human Rights, a democratic society rejects any stigmatization based on sexual orientation. Such a society is built on the equal dignity of individuals and is strengthened by diversity, which it perceives not as a threat, but as a source of enrichment”, states the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
