ECtHR rules on lawsuits filed by transgender people from Georgia

ECtHR rules on transgender case

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Georgia to pay compensation to three transgender men in a gender reassignment case. The Strasbourg Court found a violation of the Convention on Human Rights: according to the conclusion, article 8 of the Convention on the inviolability of private life had been violated. The government of Georgia now has to pay a total of 16,000 euros.

Two transgender men whose names were not disclosed filed a complaint with the Strasbourg Court in 2017, and in 2019 they were joined by a third transgender, well-known queer rights activist Niko Gviniashvili.

The applicants demanded that their gender be officially recognized and that the “sex” field on their identity documents indicate male. The plaintiffs challenged the authorities’ refusal to change their gender on their identity documents based on a medical report that they were diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” or transsexualism. While the state authorities demanded a certificate of gender reassignment surgery, the same was demanded before the national court.

The European Court of Human Rights ordered the Georgian government to pay 2,000 euros to each of the three applicants. In addition, Niko Gviniashvili will receive an additional 9,812 euros as compensation for the costs associated with filing a complaint.

The applicants accused the Georgian government of violating articles 3 (prohibition of torture) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention on Human Rights. However, according to the decision of the Strasbourg Court, the case fell under a different article and therefore not all of the applicants’ claims were satisfied.

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As the Strasbourg court explains in its opinion, it found gaps in the legislation of Georgia.

“It is completely incomprehensible how, from a legal point of view, change of sex / gender is regulated in Georgia. Despite the fact that there is a provision in the Georgian law that allows a citizen to change sex/gender in civil status records, the law does not say anything about how to do it technically, for example whether it is necessary to provide legal gender recognition certificates of medical procedures,” the ECHR decision says.

The European Court of Human Rights also stated that the Georgian government has not clarified what medical procedures are needed for legal gender recognition in Georgia.

ECtHR rules on transgender case