Article on Oliari and Others v Italy

Giuseppe Zago, a researcher in comparative sexual orientation law at Leiden University, has produced an interesting analysis of the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Oliari and Others v Italy.

Here are the details:

A victory for Italian same-sex couples, a victory for European homosexuals? A commentary on Oliari v Italy
In Oliari and others v. Italy the European Court of Human rights established for the first time that the legislator’s failure to guarantee a legal framework recognizing non-marital same-sex relationships constitutes a violation of the right to respect for private and family life under article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. This article aims to underline positives and negatives in judges’ reasoning. Particularly, it will be underlined the relevance of the judgment both as a critique on major contradictions characterizing Italian institutional debate around the issue of same-sex partnerships, and as a further step in the progressive application of article 8 ECHR to protect same-sex individuals committed in an intimate relationship. Such result is indeed achieved by referring expressly to the US Supreme Court judgment in Obergefell v. Hodges, which is uncommon for the Strasbourg Court and should not be overlooked for future cases. However, the article observes how the Chamber surprisingly failed ascertaining a possible violation of the right of private and family life in conjunction with the non-discrimination principle. This risks limiting the effects of its reasoning to the Italian situation only. Moreover, it is disappointing to notice that the European Court did not even examine Italy’s violation of the right to marry under art.12 of the Convention, and contrarily granted a wide margin of appreciation to the States. At present, same-sex marriage still remains “taboo” for the ECtHR.

The article can be found here:

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