Poland’s laws on same-sex couples violate human rights code, court rules

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that the lack of any form of legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples in Poland breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court’s decision refers to five same-sex Polish couples whose application for marriage was rejected by the authorities as marriage can only be between a man and a woman, according to the Polish law.

In a press release Tuesday, the Strasbourg-based court said it considered that Poland — which was governed for most of the last decade by the populist-nationalist Law and Justice party — had failed to comply with its duty to ensure that the applicants had a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of their same-sex unions.

That failure had resulted in the applicants’ inability to regulate fundamental aspects of their lives and amounted to a breach of their right to respect for their private and family life, the court added.

EU-member Poland has long been accused by rights groups of breaching the bloc’s LGBTQ+ obligations and women’s rights.

“Women’s sexual and reproductive rights and activists continued to be under attack, with a 2023 criminal conviction of an abortion rights activist for helping a woman access abortion pills. Officials use anti-LGBT rhetoric and authorities have established so-called ‘LGBT Ideology Free’ zones,” said Human Rights Watch in a statement.

In September, incoming Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised that he would introduce a number of measures to improve the lives of the country’s LGBTQ+ community.