Referenda on Human Rights: The example of LGBTI Rights
(2015) JAMM04 20151Department of Law
- Abstract
- Referenda, as a form of direct democracy, became a popular tool for resolving important questions over the last decades. The issue of rights of sexual minorities, among others, has also become a quite popular topic for referenda. Referenda on human rights, also known as “anti-homosexual” referenda,” discriminatory “referenda or “referenda on the protection of family”, are dedicated to resolving the questions of same-sex marriages, partnerships, adoption of children by same-sex couples or non-compulsory sexual education of children, by citizens themselves. Simply put, the majority is deciding about the rights of sexual minority with a great risk that the adoption of referenda results might create discrimination against one community. This... (More)
- Referenda, as a form of direct democracy, became a popular tool for resolving important questions over the last decades. The issue of rights of sexual minorities, among others, has also become a quite popular topic for referenda. Referenda on human rights, also known as “anti-homosexual” referenda,” discriminatory “referenda or “referenda on the protection of family”, are dedicated to resolving the questions of same-sex marriages, partnerships, adoption of children by same-sex couples or non-compulsory sexual education of children, by citizens themselves. Simply put, the majority is deciding about the rights of sexual minority with a great risk that the adoption of referenda results might create discrimination against one community. This paper explores the issue of above mentioned referenda on human rights, with the aim to firstly establish the importance of addressing this issue by the European Court of Human Rights and secondly with the aim to examine what role does European Court of Human Rights has in these cases e.g. what, if anything, it should be able to do and which approach it should adopt. The importance of addressing this issue by ECtHR is established through the identification of available protection for the victims of such referendum under ECHR, analysis of the impact of direct democracy on the human rights of minorities, including its negative effects, and through analysis of discriminatory nature of such a referendum. The role of ECtHR is determined through analysis of relevant provisions of ECHR and case law of ECtHR, and the suggestions for the Court´s approach towards this issue are drawn upon the example of U.S. judicial system, which already has plenty of experience in this area. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7994570
- author
- Kohýlová, Katarína LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JAMM04 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- referendum, LGBTI, human rights, protection, discrimination, ECtHR
- language
- English
- id
- 7994570
- date added to LUP
- 2015-09-30 15:53:23
- date last changed
- 2015-09-30 15:53:23
@misc{7994570,
abstract = {{Referenda, as a form of direct democracy, became a popular tool for resolving important questions over the last decades. The issue of rights of sexual minorities, among others, has also become a quite popular topic for referenda. Referenda on human rights, also known as “anti-homosexual” referenda,” discriminatory “referenda or “referenda on the protection of family”, are dedicated to resolving the questions of same-sex marriages, partnerships, adoption of children by same-sex couples or non-compulsory sexual education of children, by citizens themselves. Simply put, the majority is deciding about the rights of sexual minority with a great risk that the adoption of referenda results might create discrimination against one community. This paper explores the issue of above mentioned referenda on human rights, with the aim to firstly establish the importance of addressing this issue by the European Court of Human Rights and secondly with the aim to examine what role does European Court of Human Rights has in these cases e.g. what, if anything, it should be able to do and which approach it should adopt. The importance of addressing this issue by ECtHR is established through the identification of available protection for the victims of such referendum under ECHR, analysis of the impact of direct democracy on the human rights of minorities, including its negative effects, and through analysis of discriminatory nature of such a referendum. The role of ECtHR is determined through analysis of relevant provisions of ECHR and case law of ECtHR, and the suggestions for the Court´s approach towards this issue are drawn upon the example of U.S. judicial system, which already has plenty of experience in this area.}},
author = {{Kohýlová, Katarína}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Referenda on Human Rights: The example of LGBTI Rights}},
year = {{2015}},
}