The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recognized Ukraineʼs violation of the rights of a same-sex couple who cannot marry in the country. It is about the case of Andriy Maimulakhin and his husband Andriy Markiv.
This was reported in the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights.
Since 2010, the applicants, Andriy Maimulakhin and Andriy Markiv, have been living as a family as partners. In 2014, they appealed to the ECHR due to the impossibility of legalizing their relationship in Ukraine.
Considering the case, the ECHR noted that "unlike heterosexual couples who prefer not to marry for personal reasons, but still have the right to legal recognition and protection..., the applicants have neither access to marriage in Ukraine nor the opportunity receive any alternative form of legal recognition."
The Court also took into account the clear trend at the European level towards the legal recognition and protection of same-sex couples in the member states of the Council of Europe, thirty of which currently provide for the possibility of legal recognition of same-sex couples.
The ECtHR stated Ukraineʼs violation of Article 14 in relation to Article 8 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Each of the applicants was awarded €5 000 in compensation.
- The Verkhovna Rada registered a draft law on civil partnerships for same-sex and opposite-sex couples. According to the project, after state registration, partners receive the status of close relatives, namely, family members of the first degree of consanguinity.