Subject: EUROLETTER 61
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 22:39:13 +0200 (METDST)

EURO-LETTER 

No. 61							July 1998

THE EURO-LETTER IS PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF ILGA-EUROPE - THE
EUROPEAN REGION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN AND GAY ASSOCIATION
BY GAY AND LESBIAN INTERNATIONAL LOBBY IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE
DANISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS. Editors:
Steffen Jensen, Ken Thomassen, Peter Bryld, Lisbeth Andersen and
Soeren Baatrup.  Contact to Euro-Letter: E-mail:
[email-masked] URL: http://www.inet.uni2.dk/~steff Fax: +45
4049 5297 Tel: +45 3324 6435 Mobile: +45 2033 0840 Mail: c/o
Steffen Jensen, Gl. Kongevej 31, 4.th, DK-1610 Copenhagen V,
Denmark  You can receive Euro-Letter by e-mail (send a message
to the above address)  and from no 30 onwards the Euro-Letters
are available on the Internet at 
http://www.france.qrd.org/assocs/ilga/euroletter.html
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/ILGA/euroletter  A French summary is
avaiable at www.france.qrd.org  You can find a link to
Euro-Letters at http://www.inet.uni2.dk/~steff 

IN THIS ISSUE
CATALONIA HAS GRANTED DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP RIGHTS
PENAL CODE CHANGES IN FINLAND
AMNESTY: UK SHOULD REPEAL ANTI-GAY LAWS
FIRST FINNISH GAY DISCRIMINATION CASE WON
DENMARK NIXES LESBIAN INSEMINATION
FIRST STEP TO EQUALIZE AGE OF CONSENT IN UK
NO EQUAL RIGHTS FOR GAY EU OFFICIALS AND THEIR PARTNERS
ILGA-EUROPE LAUNCHES EU REPORT
SWEDEN: (GAY) PROSTITUTION (RE-)CRIMINALIZED 
AUSTRIA: COMPLAINT AGAINST DISCRIMINATORY AGE OF CONSENT FILED
WITH UN-COMMITTEE FOR THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 
DONATION TO ILGA-EUROPE

Documents relating to ILGA-Europe can be found at ILGA-Europe's
homepage http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/ilgaeur.htm

An update of the Survey on the Legal Situation for Gays and
Lesbians in Europe can be found at
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/survey.htm

A description of partnership laws and other laws regarding
same-sex partners can be found at 
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/partner.htm

Consolidated versions of the basic treaties of the European
Union including amendments from the Amsterdam Treaty can be
found at this web-site:
http://ue.eu.int/Amsterdam/en/traiteco/en1.htm

********************************************************
CATALONIA HAS GRANTED DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP RIGHTS
By Cesar Leston

On June 30, the Parlament de Catalunya passed the first
partnership bill in all the Southern European Region. This is
the first text in Spain and in all the Mediterranean area
granting rights to non-married couples, gay or straight.

The text allows couples living maritally but non-married to gain
couple status in the eye of the Law, within the matters
Catalonian law is competent. Thus, such law provides no measures
regarding Social Security, widowhood pensions or labour
legislation (excepted the staff working for the regional
government).

There are indeed differences in terms of the rights granted to
gay or straignt couples. In some cases, to the advantage of
heterosexual couples, as in adoption, a right vetoed for
same-sex ones. Nevertheless, same-sex couples gain more
advantages, such in testamentary / will issues, for the partner
of the deceased member of the same-sex couple is automatically
entitled to 1/4 of the estate, when no will has been made.
According to the legislative text, such difference is based on
the fact that straight couples can always apply for matrimony, a
possibility beyond reach for same-sex couples.

The changes this law entails to lesbian / gay couples are
dramatic. Hereunder come a few examples:

For the first time ever, our legislation considers what it calls
a "homosexual stable union" defined as "a permanent basis couple
integrated by same-sex partner living as spouses" and who state
their willingness to be covered by this law.

For the first time ever, in case one of the members of the
couple is declared legally under age by a court, his/her partner
will be the first person qualifying to stand as tutor of the
person he/she has shared his/her life with.

For the first time ever, in case one of the partners of the
couple dies,the other is automatically deemed as the owner of
the assets of the common home (jewels or artistic / historical
value items excluded); this leaves behind so very apinful
situation leading to the family of the deceased partner
pillaging his/her home, virtually robbing it from the other
member of the union.

For the first time ever, the member of a same-sex union in an
unequal economic situation after the couple has broken is
entitled to an allowance payed by the other member of the couple
on a regular basis, for a certain time, in order to allow
him/her to rebuild his/her life.

The Catalonian Partnership bill has been agreed by all the
groups in the Catalonian parliament but the Popular Party (PP),
in office at the federal government.

The Fundacion Triangulo por la Igualdad Social de Gais y
Lesbianas has been working for many years for DP rights; during
this time we have had a good deal of understanding for the
positions of CiU (in office in Barcelona) and we were the only
l/g/b/t group to support the bill for, far from perfect, it sure
means a big step forward.

Our assessment
We must say we are very happy to see lesbian and gay family
units legally recognized as couples; we are also happy to see
that the discrimination of non-married straight couples is
somehow diminished.

We must bear in mind though that the Catalan law, which we
support, is not a perfect one. To our opinion, homsexual and
heterosexual couples should be regulated under the provisions of
the same law, allowing adoption for same-sex couples.

This Catalan law should trigger similar measures in the rest of
Spain and the Mediterranean region. The almost-unanimous vote at
the Catalan legislative assembly shows that the Popular Party
(PP) and its more ultra-conservative wings, are alone. When the
actual decisions are made by the more church-linked sectors of
the party, there is no point in trying to provide a socially
liberal image for the party. The statements made by the ruling
party in Catalonia, crucial for all alliances at a federal
parliament levels, are very encouraging on the prospects for
such a law (entering much more crucial issues such as pensions
or adoptions which depend on the federal law) to be passed. The
parties who voted for this law in Catalonia have enough seats at
the federal parliament to have this DP bill passed.

The PP has lost positions in Catalonia, while the ruling party
in Aragon, the PAR - Partido Aragones Regionalista has left the
PP (with whom they rule in coalition) and supports a DP rights
bill; in the Spanish Fed. Parliament, the DP Bill can only be
stopped with legal tricks; if it were voted, they would lost
again. All partnerships, either same-sex or not, will bear in
mind that all parties can agree and vote to get our rights
granted but the PP.

And, last but not least, the Church seems to be losing pace
again in whatever has to do with social advances; they opposed
condoms, divorce, the new legal provisions on abortion and
oppose now DP rights.

PENAL CODE CHANGES IN FINLAND
By Hannele Leehtikuusi

Finland got its equal age of consent (16) for heterosexuals and
gays/lesbians as well as got rid of the "promotion clause".  I
have to tell once more that it was not a big deal. No surprices,
no celebrating. Only sort of surprice was that government
proposal for the age of consent was 15 and Parliament decided to
have it at16. For dependants it is still 18 (student-teacher,
financially  dependant ect) - and again it is for all -
heterosexuals and gays/lesbians.

Ministry of Justice is continuing its slow work for the
partnership law. And now it seems more than sure that the law
will come to the Parliament after the elections that will be
held in March 20, 1999. 

Legistlation that regulaties and defines who can have artificial
insemination in Finland  might be under handling still in in
this year. We expect that the present situation continues and
the single women and women couples can have insemination at the
private clinics.

AMNESTY: UK SHOULD REPEAL ANTI-GAY LAWS
By David McKelvey

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL calls on the Government of the United
Kingdom to equalize the age of consent and to repeal or amend
all criminal laws which place discriminatory restrictions on gay
male sexual activity. 

The Parliament is expected to take a vote in June on equalizing
the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual relations.

However, the government has not proposed accompanying
legislative changes to repeal provisions which criminalize
sexual activity between males which is not illegal if the
participants are heterosexual.

The application of these laws may lead to the detention or
imprisonment of males, whom Amnesty International would consider
prisoners of conscience. 

Amnesty International includes in its definition of prisoners of
conscience people who have been detained or imprisoned solely
because of their sexual orientation.

This includes people imprisoned for engaging in consensual
homosexual activity in private.

Such laws include those which:
- define the age of consent for sexual activity between males at
18, while the age of consent for heterosexual sexual activity
and sexual activity between females is 16; 2
- define privacy for sexual activity between males differently
than between males and females or just females.

Consensual sexual acts between males in private places (defined
as buggery or gross indecency) are illegal under the Sexual
Offences Acts 1956 and 1967 if:

- any participant is under 18 years of age; or
- more than two males voluntarily take part or are present in
the private place.

These laws violate international standards which prohibit
discrimination and arbitrary interference with personal privacy.

However, these laws continue to be applied to prosecute males
who have engaged in consensual sexual relations with other males
in private places.

In 1996 a man was convicted of gross indecency as a result of
having engaged in consensual sexual relations in his own home,
because more than two men, who were over the age of 18, were
voluntarily present or taking part. 

In January 1998, seven men, including one who was seventeen and
a half at the time -- known as the Bolton 7-- were convicted of
engaging in consensual sexual activities in private homes.
Amnesty International joined religious leaders,

Members of Parliament, other non-governmental organizations and
hundreds of individuals in expressing concern about the case.

The organization took the position that if any of the men were
imprisoned, they would be adopted as prisoners of conscience on
the grounds that they were convicted, in effect, solely because
of the homosexual nature of their relations.

Although not imprisoned, two of them received suspended
sentences. The others received sentences involving community
service and probation. This included the youngest of the seven,
whom age of consent laws would presumably seek to protect from
harm, but who was instead convicted and punished as a criminal.

In both cases, all of the acts were consensual. The acts were
not visible to people other than those present, and no one was
harmed. No one present or participating in either case
complained to the authorities.

They were "victimless crimes". The men were convicted, in
effect, solely because of the homosexual nature of their
relations.

Rather than enjoying their rights to privacy and freedom from
discrimination, these people and others have been convicted and
sentenced and suffered harm to their personal and professional
reputations by application of laws in the United Kingdom which
violate the government's obligations under international law.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Amnesty International urges the Government of the United Kingdom:

-to equalize the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual
sexual relations;
- at the same time, to take the necessary measures to bring the
range of legislation regulating sexual offences between men in
the United Kingdom into compliance with its obligations under
international law to prohibit discrimination and arbitrary
interference with the right to privacy.

This would involve repealing provisions which criminalize
consensual acts between men in private if more than two people
are present or participating.

The Sexual Offences Acts should be reformed so that there is one
set of laws that applies consistently and without discrimination
on the basis of sex or sexual orientation.

For the full report see:
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1998/EUR/44501198.htm

FIRST FINNISH GAY DISCRIMINATION CASE WON
By Rex Wockner

A British man living in Finland has won the nation's first
anti-gay discrimination case under a 1995 law that bans bias
based on sexual orientation.

Tim Bedford, a high-school teacher in Oulu, filed suit after he
was roughed up and kicked out of a predominantly gay bar for
kissing his boyfriend on the dance floor.

The court fined the doorman who assaulted Bedford and ordered
him to pay court costs.

"This shows that the law exists and that laws are worth more
than the paper they're written on,' said Rainer Hiltunen, head
of the national Finnish gay-rights group SETA.

DENMARK NIXES LESBIAN INSEMINATION
By Rex Wockner

The Danish Folketinget (parliament) voted 70-57 June 19 against
lifting the nation's ban on artificial insemination of single
women.

The ban applies to state-run and private clinics but not to
arrangements that take place outside of a medical setting.

Proponents of the ban argued that lesbian motherhood is
unnatural and that children are harmed by not knowing their
fathers.

Ironically, in 1989, Denmark became the first of the six nations
that grant gay couples nearly every right and obligation of
matrimony. Danish registered partners lack access only to
adoption, church weddings and artificial conception.

FIRST STEP TO EQUALIZE AGE OF CONSENT IN UK
By Stonewall

In an amendment to the Crime & Disorder Bill, MP's voted at
Westminster this evening, 22nd June, by 336 votes to 129 (a
majority of 207) to set the age of consent for homosexual sex at
16, on a par with heterosexuals. 

Tony Blair, William Hague, and Paddy Ashdown were all absent.

After 31 years of discrimination since the partial
decriminalisation of gay male sex by the 1967 Sexual Offences
Act, the Equality Alliance welcomes this long-overdue milestone,
enshrining in U.K. law the principle that lesbians and gay men
deserve parity with heterosexuals. 

"The equalisation of the age of consent must now be followed by
further legislation to ban antigay discrimination, and to
eradicate the long list of statutory provisions which continue
to deny equality of treatment and opportunity to lesbians and
gay men in this country", said Ian Farmer of the Equality
Alliance. 

"The first priority must be to repeal Section 28 of the 1988
Local Government Act, replacing this with the requirement for
the National Curriculum to recognise and reflect the equal
validity of homosexuality. The urgency for this is demonstrated
by suicide statistics, where the disproportionate figure for
lesbian and gay teenagers is horrendously high. 

"Other areas where inequalities remain to be redressed are: 
- equal treatment in employment, including the Armed Forces;
- equal validity for family life, (gay partnerships and parenting
rights);
- equal treatment in service provision, (health, pensions,
policing, prisons, ...). 
This is not an exhaustive list." 

The Vigil outside Westminster, called by the Equality Alliance,
attracted a crowd of supporters estimated by police at around
2000; not counting those who were packing the Strangers' Gallery
to watch the debate, or those in committee rooms within the
Palace made available to Alliance supporters at short notice
through the kind intervention of Stonewall. 

After the vote, Angela Mason of Stonewall concurred with
Equality Alliance members that the abolition of Section 28 would
be the next campaign priority.  

(Joe Ashton's amendment, which would have introduced an age of
consent of 18 where one party was in a position of authority was
rejected by 234 votes to 194.)

NO EQUAL RIGHTS FOR GAY EU OFFICIALS AND THEIR PARTNERS
Press Release by EGALITE

EGALITE, the association of gays and lesbians who work for the
European institutions, would like to thank the many national gay
organisations and the media for the attention and support they
have lent us in our efforts to obtain equal treatment and full
recognition, regardless of our sexual orientation.  Last year,
the European Parliament requested the EU Council of Ministers to
adopt legislation to end discrimination on these grounds within
the EU institutions.

Under the British presidency, the Council decided however to
leave gay and lesbian EU employees and their partners in the
predicament they were in to begin with: unrecognised, whether
they have been registered as a couple or not.

Despite our joint lobbying efforts, the Council has not
responded to our arguments and so far not even notified us
directly of its recent decision to maintain discrimination
against gays and lesbians, in the sense that "Officials shall be
entitled to equal treatment under these Staff Regulations
without reference, direct or indirect, to race, political,
philosophical or religious beliefs, sex or sexual orientation,
without prejudice to the relevant provisions requiring a
specific marital status." 

In other words, marriage remains a condition upon which
recognition as a couple depends, unless the Court of Justice in
Luxembourg decides to reinterpret the concepts of marital status
and spouse.

The Swedish government is officially lending support to a
Swedish official and his registered partner in a court case
against the Council on the grounds that the Council does not
respect Swedish law.  The advocate general and the Court will no
doubt thoroughly examine the concepts of marital status and
spouse in the light of this argument, and we hope that the
verdict will bring an end to discrimination against registered
couples from various Member States.

The European Commission recently launched a reflection group on
staff policy.  EGALITE has asked to be heard by this group and
expects it to propose measures to bring its own house in order. 
After all, the Treaty of Amsterdam introduced a new procedure to
combat discrimination on various grounds in EU Member States. 
EGALITE expects the institutions to adopt this approach towards
their own staff as well. 

According to EGALITE's President Marion Oprel, the Council of
Ministers has missed an important symbolic occasion to set this
record "straight".

ILGA-EUROPE LAUNCHES EU REPORT
by Kurt Krickler

From 24-26 June 1998, ILGA-Europe presented its brand-new report
"Equality for Lesbians and Gay Men - A Relevant Issue in the
Civil and Social Dialogue" at the European Social Policy Forum
organised by the European Commission in Brussels which was
attended by more than 1,000 participants representing EU
institutions, governmental agencies and non-governmental
organisations as well as the social partners from all over
Europe. ILGA-Europe had an info-booth in the exhibition area
during the whole Forum, gave a 30-minute presentation of the
report in the so-called Open Forum on 25 May, and ILGA-Europe
representatives attended the three parallel sessions of the
Forum.

The publication of this 104-page report is part of a project
(with the same title) for which ILGA-Europe had received funding
from DG V (cf. Euro-Letter # 56, p. 6); the project is also
financially supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for
Labour, Health and Social Affairs and the Austrian Federal
Minister for Women's Affairs and Consumer Protection. Donations
to the costs of the project were also received from UNISON (the
public sector trade union in the United Kingdom) and two of
ILGA-Europe's project partners, Landsforeningen for b›sser og
lesbiske (LBL), the Danish National Association for Gays and
Lesbians LBL, and HOSI Wien, Austria's First Lesbian and Gay
Association.

The report contains two general chapters on the manifold forms
of discrimination gays and lesbians are exposed to in the Member
States of the EU and on the recent developments of EU law and
policy on sexual orientation discrimination as well as
contributions about the situation of lesbians and gays in the
fifteen Member States. These articles draw an exhaustive picture
of the many forms of social and legal discrimination against
lesbians and gays throughout the EU, but also of the many
positive developments in the pursuit of achieving full equality
for them. They also highlight examples of good and best practice
in this context.

ILGA-Europe has produced this report as part of a project to
promote the co-operation between non-governmental organisations
and to strenghten the social and civil dialogue. A dialogue in
which ILGA-Europe wishes to participate in a very active way at
the European level. One of the first steps in order to pursue
this aim was to apply for membership in the Platform of European
Social NGOs which was granted in March 1998. The Platform has
around 25 members, all of them European federations of NGOs
working in a variety of areas, such as disability, migration,
women, children, youth, age, poverty, unemployment,
homelessness, etc. ILGA-Europe board members already
participated in the Platform's steering group meeting (Brussels,
May 1998) and a mini-conference to prepare for the Social Policy
Forum (London, June 1998). The report is designed as a tool and
instrument to inform other NGOs and associations in the social
and human rights field about the legal and social situation of
lesbians and gay men in the 15 Member States, and provides a
basis for discussion with potential allies and partners in the
fight against all forms of discrimination.

On 25 May, ILGA-Europe invited European social and human rights
NGOs to a first one-day meeting in Brussels to enter into this
dialogue and specifically to discuss the draft version of the
report and its recommendations. The meeting was attended by
several NGO representatives. ILGA-Europe board members and other
experts presented various aspects of the report. MEP Outi Ojala
(GUE/NGL, FIN), president of the EP Equal Rights for Gays and
Lesbians Intergroup also gave a presentation, as did Kevin Walsh
of DG V. The NGO representatives gave valuable input both to the
main chapter of the report and for the recommendations. This
meeting was also part of the ILGA-Europe project, another
meeting with social and human rights NGOs is scheduled to take
place in November of this year as part of the project.

As mentioned before, the report also formulates a series of
recommendations to improve the situation of lesbians and gay men
in the Union - recommendations directed both at other NGOs, the
social partners, the Member States and the European Union which
has been given the competence by the Treaty of Amsterdam to
"take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex,
racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or
sexual orientation".

The report will also be presented at a number of other forums
during the year 1998, including the international conference on
"Trade Unions, Homosexuality and Work" in Amsterdam in July, the
EP Intergroup mentioned above in September, and of course, the
ILGA-Europe Conference in Linz in October 1998. At that time,
French and German translations of the report should also be
available.

ILGA-Europe co-chairs Jackie Lewis and Kurt Krickler used their
stay for the NGO meeting in Brussels to continue on the three
series of meetings with EU cabinets and services to promote and
advocate the ILGA-Europe Action Plan (cf. Euro-Letters # 51, 56,
and 58); they met with Jos‚ Zarzoso Farinos of DG VIII, dealing
with human rights in third countries, e.g., the Lom‚ Convention
countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. ILGA-Europe
stressed that human rights concerns and monitoring should also
include violations and discrimination based on sexual
orientation; Mr Farinos explained the various possibilities for
funding of projects, some requiring the agreement of the
government of the recipient countries, others not. He pointed
out that the relevant budget-lines are to be adopted by the
Parliament and that lobbying the Parliament would be expedient
if appropriate gay/lesbian relevant projects should be covered
by these budget-lines.

SWEDEN: (GAY) PROSTITUTION (RE-)CRIMINALIZED 
by Helmut GRAUPNER, Rechtskomitee LAMBDA, Vienna

Rechtskomitee LAMBDA, Vienna, did send the following letter to
the Government of Sweden protesting against the recent
(re-)criminalization of (gay) prostitution.

We would suggest that the international l/g/b/t community takes
action as well against this irrational measure. Since Romania
reintroduced a total ban on consensual homosexual relations
between adults in 1948 this is the first time a European country
has (re-)introduced criminalization of (some form of) consensual
homosexual behavior between adults. 

Why didn't we hear of any protest from gay rights associations
so far? Didn't it reach us or hasn't there been any? If not, how
can that be possible? The fact that also heterosexuals are
criminalized does not seem to us to be a sound reason for such
silence. It no way renders state interference (by the criminal
law) into consensual homosexual relations between adults less
repelling if others (the heterosexuals) have to suffer as well.

To the
Government of  the Kingdom of Sweden
Stockholm Sweden

Re.: Re-Criminalization of Prostitution

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

According to press reports Swedish parliament recently passed a 
law (re-)criminalizing (homo-)sexual relations against payment
(punishing those who pay for (homo-)sexual contacts).

As a lesbian and gay rights association for years working in
educating individuals and society at large towards a rational
approach to sexual issues and dedicated to the promotion of
sexual (human) rights, i.e. the right to sexual
self-determination and to sexual diversity, we have to strongly
protest against this petulant measure.

Prostitution is driven to the criminal underground no matter if
one punishes the prostitute only , the client only or both.
History should have told us that all attempts to eradicate
prostitution had to fail and that all such measures caused
massive harm to all persons involved and to society as a whole.
Driving prostitution into a criminal subculture leads to
brutalization, blackmailing and not least massive (further)
stress and economic pressure on sex-workers themselves (no
matter if they or the client only will be threatened with
punishment).

First of all however the new law, criminalizing sexual behavior
between consenting adults, violates the fundamental rights to
sexual self-determination and sexual privacy enshrined in
(international) human rights law. Human dignity is rooted within
the autonomy of the individual. Punishing consensual sexual
behavior in private does infringe this autonomy in one of the
most intimate areas central to human personality.

All members of society must put their full efforts into
combatting violence and abuse, i.e. into combatting the
exploitation of sex-workers by souteneurs and clients.
Criminalizing consensual sexual relations however, in what form
ever, does violate itself the human rights of these very same
sex-workers. 

Not to mention the ambigious term ,against remuneration" which
puts not only clients of prostitutes under the threat punishment
but all persons granting material goods to their ,casual"
partners; and also the non-paying ,casual" partners of
sex-workers.

The new law being justified as a measure against discrimination
of women (whose situation however it  will heavily worsen) the
(re-)criminalization of gay male prostitution seems to be
especially unfounded and inconceivable. Its inclusion into the
new law can not be called other than grotesque.

We deeply do regret that your country decided to return to the
way of repression exactly at the same time as in Taipeh the
International Congress of Sex Workers (representing sex-workers
from 14 nations including Sweden) stressed the right of 
prostitutes to work and called for the complete
decriminalization of prostitution.

We therefore in the name of human rights are urging all persons
reponsible in your country to work for the repeal of this law as
early as possible.

Sincerely yours,
Dr. Helmut GRAUPNER	       Mag. Roland Rittenau

AUSTRIA: COMPLAINT AGAINST DISCRIMINATORY AGE OF CONSENT FILED
WITH UN-COMMITTEE FOR THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 
by Helmut GRAUPNER, Rechtskomitee LAMBDA, Vienna

Platform Against Art. 209, the national coalition of (nearly
all) Austrian l/g organizations and a lot of ,mainstream"
associations, filed a complaint against the discriminatory age
of consent for gay men in Austria (Art. 209 CC: 18 years, while
14 for HTS and lesbians) with the UN-Committee for the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Geneva. The
Platform argues that Art. 209 violates the right of adolescents
to privacy and the right of gay and bisexual youth to
non-discrimination (Art. 2, 3 ,12 & 16 CRC) and asks the
Committee in the framework of the examination of the Austrian
report according to Art. 14 CRC (CRC/C/11/Add. 14) to urge the
Republic of Austria immediately to repeal Art. 209 of the
Austrian penal code.

Platform against Art. 209 filed its complaint in German language
in February 98 and could achieve the support of the Geneva based
NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since
none of the current Members of the Committee however does know
German they asked for an English translation which we sent
nearly one week before the first meeting between NGOs and the
Committee on 8th June. Due to postal errors the translation did
arrive late. 

Luckily however our Platform has been represented in the meeting
by Mr. Paul Arzt, Child and Youth Ombudsman of the State of
Salzburg, and he had in his possession a faxed copy of the
(English version of the) report and once he and the NGO Group
realized the extent of the Committee's interest in the issue,
they quickly made copies of the report (in English) and
distributed it to the Committee members during the course of the
meeting.

The Committee asked a number of questions with regards to the
issue which Mr. Arzt was able to answer to the satisfaction of
the Committee and the NGO Group believes that the Committee will
raise the issue with the Austrian government during the
examination of the initial (Government) report in January 1999.

Please send Letters of Suopport to the Committee on the Rights
of the Child, Geneva!

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Steffen Jensen
E-mail: [email-masked] 
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff
Tel. +45 3324 6435 or +45 2033 0840  Fax: +45 4049 5297