.
Ευρωπαϊκός Οργανισμός Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων (The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights)
Legal Study on Homophobia and Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation – Greece
Vassilis Hatzopoulos
Athens, Greece
February 2007
Executive summary
Implementation of Employment Directive
2000/78/EC
[1]. Directive 2000/78/EC (the employment non discrimination Directive) has been transposed into Greek law jointly with Directive 2000/43/EC, (the general nondiscrimination Directive), by Law 3304/05.
[2]. No substantial provision of the Law seems to be raising specific problems orquestions directly related to discrimination based on sexual orientation. Themain substantial issue is the limited scope of the law: it only coversdiscrimination in respect of employment and occupation conditions, but not inother fields.
[3]. The procedural arrangements of the Law, on the other hand, seem to be highlycomplex and inefficient. For one thing, the fact that victims may make use ofthe regular administrative law remedies does not allow for a proper examinationof complaints. Further, the fact that there are three distinct (!) equality bodies,each competent to hear and to deal with different kinds of complaints, furthercomplicates the situation. Finally, the inactivity of the equality bodiesconcerning the dissemination of the Law and of rights thereby accruing toindividuals has been proverbial.
[4]. The irrefutable proof that the system is badly set up and inefficiently operating,is that there has not been any complaint successfully dealt with by any of theequality bodies. Neither has there been any judicial decision, by any court ortribunal, applying the Law.
Freedom of movement
[5]. Under Greek law, ‘free’ partnerships between non married persons are notrecognised for any purpose. This is true for couples of different sex and, afortiori, for couples of the same sex. Therefore, EU LGBT citizens may gain theright to stay in Greece on their own right, provided they fulfil the relevantconditions, but not as family members. LGBTs who are not EU citizens, haveno right to enter and stay in Greece as family members neither of Greek nor ofother EU citizens. The same is true for their children.
Asylum and Subsidiary Protection
[6]. Greece has a surprisingly low percentage of recognition of refugee status, underthe Geneva Convention or else. No official statistics exist on the grounds onwhich a) protection claims are being submitted or b) refugee status is beinggranted. Even if such statistics did exist, sexual orientation would not figure as acategory of its own, but would come as a sub-category of ‘persons persecutedfor reasons of membership of a particular social group’.
[7]. There are no binding or else clear rules on whether LGBT are considered asbelonging in a particular social group. In practice, however, there have beensome cases where asylum has been granted to people who have been persecutedbecause of their sexual orientation. These are very few, nonetheless, comparedto the total number of the relevant claims, given that the vast majority of peopleseeking asylum in Greece come from Iraq and Iran, countries particularlyhostile to LGBTs.
[8]. In view of the findings above and those exposed under ‘Freedom of Movement’it comes as no surprise that ‘Family reunification’ for the same-sex partner of anindividual having obtained refugee status in Greece is not an issue.
Family Reunification
[9]. The ‘Family Reunification’ Directive 2003/86/EC has been transposed intoGreek law by Presidential Decree (PD) 131/2006. Like in all other instanceswhere giving rights to non-married partners is at stake, the legislator’s responseis outright negative. The law makes no mention whatsoever of non marriedpartners, regardless of whether they are of the same or opposite sex from thesponsor. Therefore, no LGBT partners of third country nationals residing inGreece are admitted for family reunification.
Freedom of Assembly
[10]. Three ‘Pride Parades’ have been held in the streets of Athens during the lastthree years. Several ‘Pride Assemblies’ had been publicly held before 2005 inparks and squares of Athens. All necessary permissions have always beenobtained without any major hurdle or delay. No homophobic demonstration orother collective manifestation has ever taken place in Greece. Police has readilyoffered its protection to the events, but had never had to intervene in incidentsopenly driven by homophobia.
Criminal Law – Hate speech
[11]. Hate speech in Greece is regulated exclusively by Law 927/1979. This law,however, only incriminates hate speech based on racial origin, nationality andreligion. Sexual orientation does not figure among the grounds on which hatespeech is prohibited and, therefore, no specific protection is offered to LGBTs.Moreover, Law 927/1979 has been idle for many years and has only beenapplied once in the end of 2007, in a case concerning anti-Semitism. Therefore,an extensive application of the law to cover sexual orientation is not a likelydevelopment. Victims of hate speech may use the Civil Code remedies if theirname, personality, right to family life etc are being violated. These remedies,however, are of limited interest to LGBTs.
[12]. In the Penal Code homophobia is not a general aggravating factor. On theopposite, however, Article 347 of the Penal Code incriminates somehomosexual practices, clearly distinguishing them from heterosexual ones. Thisclearly discriminatory provision has been denounced time and again by LGBTs,their associations and several NGOs and its abolition is expected some time inthe foreseeable future.
Transgender issues
[13]. Trans people under the Greek legal system are a non issue, since there is not asingle legal text or judicial decision dealing with them. It is not clear whethertrans people are covered by legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation or on the basis of sex.
[14]. This notwithstanding, sex reassignment is practiced in Greece and has, at leastonce, been covered by the general healthcare and pension fund (IKA). After sexmodification is successfully operated, the person has the right to change his/hername following a relatively straight forward procedure. Marriage is alsopossible with a person of the opposite sex – post surgery.
Miscellaneous
[15]. Homophobia within the Greek society is existent but dormant. One may observea) indifference on the part of non concerned parties and b) deception and lack oftrust on the part of parties directly concerned (LGBTs and their organisations).This tacit acquiescence to homophobia is nurtured by a number of factors whichare peculiar within Greek society. At least six factors may be pointed out: a) thedominant role of the Greek Orthodox Church in Greek society and its openlyhomophobic stance, b) the macho and/or homophobic discourse of the vastmajority of politicians, c) the negative imagery put forward by the media, d) therole of the police, e) the absence of sexual education in schools and f) theunwillingness of all the governments to pay attention to substantiated LGBTclaims and to legislate in accordance.
Good Practices
[16]. Almost non-existent.
Conclusions
[17]. Homophobia and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation remain, to alarge extent, ‘unspoken’ legal issues under the Greek legal system. While thesocial realities are there, the legal system is catching up with great delay and,often, in a (willingly?) inefficient manner.
[18]. For one thing, in Greece discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation isdealt with together with all other forms of prohibited discriminations, if at all.Second, Greece has fulfilled its obligations under the relevant EC directives in a‘minimalistic’ and procedurally cumbersome manner. Third, Greece does notrecognise family outside marriage, nor does it pay attention to trans issues.Finally, the institution of asylum has been severely suffering in the countrywhich invented it.
[19]. Therefore, there has been no judgment by any court or tribunal concerningspecifically discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. There have beenvirtually no claims before the equality bodies either. This shows a fundamentaldistrust for the procedures and bodies involved – which may be justified in viewof the very poor visibility, let alone effectiveness, of these bodies. A furtherreason, which may partly explain the fact that the organisations involved are notas active as one would expect, is that they often are ‘one door, many doorbells’,i.e. the same persons bear various labels and are charged with all sorts ofresponsibilities and functions.
[20]. The lack of any statistical data, official or other, is a striking feature of theGreek situation concerning homophobia. Efforts to make up for this lack ofinformation, through direct contacts with stakeholders and competent bodies,have failed to bear fruits. This is presented in Annex III of the present study,where all the bodies contacted and their responses are being presented.
.
Διαβάστε ολόκληρη την έκθεση του Ευρωπαϊκού Οργανισμού Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων για την Ομοφυλοφοβία και τις Αθέμιτες Διακρίσεις με βάση τον Σεξουαλικό Προσανατολισμό στην Ελλάδα (Φεβ. 2007) πιέζοντας εδώ:
.
Διαβάστε επίσης:
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου