Italy is failing to respect gay couples

Italy violates human rights by failing to offer enough legal protection for same-sex couples, a court ruled. Judges from the European Court of Human Rights said the government had breached the rights of three gay couples by refusing them marriage or any other recognised form of union. Italy is the only major western European country with no civil partnerships or gay marriage.

ITALY has violated the human rights of same-sex couples by failing to give them sufficient legal protection, a court in Strasbourg has said in a landmark ruling.

The country was taken to court by three couples who claimed they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

Italy is the only major western European country that does not recognise either civil partnerships or gay marriage. The couples argued that the lack of provision for gay couples in Italy was a breach of article 8 – the right to respect for one’s private and family life – of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Strasbourg-based court agreed, and Italy has been ordered to pay £3,500 in compensation to each claimant, plus £9,800 in legal costs.

The ruling is expected to increase pressure on the centre-Left government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has promised to legalise gay marriage in Italy.

A Bill that would recognise civil unions nationwide is being studied by a committee of the Italian senate, but it faces strong opposition from centreRight allies of Mr Renzi.

“The legal protection currently available to same-sex couples in Italy … did not only fail to provide for the core needs relevant to a couple in a stable, committed relationship, but it was also not sufficiently reliable,” the court said in its judgment. The panel of seven judges also noted that 24 of 47 member states in the Council of Europe had already legally recognised same-sex unions. “There was a conflict between the social reality of the applicants, who for the most part lived their relationship openly in Italy, and the law, which gave them no official recognition,” the court said.

“In the absence of marriage, the option of a civil union or registered partnership would be the most appropriate way for same-sex couples like the applicants to have their relationship legally recognised,” it added.

The court dismissed the argument that a few cities in Italy, including Rome, had already recognised the unions of a handful of couples who married abroad, saying this was merely a symbolic gesture that did not convey any legal rights upon them.

The mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa has said she “hoped Britain would have done more” to help thou- sands of refugees arriving across the Mediterranean. Giusi Nicolini, speaking at a Vatican conference attended by mayors from around the world yesterday, urged Europe “to open its eyes” to the “boats of death”.

EU ministers on Monday agreed to start relocating 32,000 of the arrivals among the union’s 28 members in the autumn, falling around 8,000 short of the target agreed by EU leaders at a summit in June. Mrs Nicolini described the target as “laughable”.