Joanne Cassar, who was assigned male at birth, legally changed her birth certificate to female in full compliance with Maltese national law. However, she was denied permission to marry her boyfriend.
Taddeucci, a national of Italy, and McCall, a national of New Zealand, are an unmarried same-sex couple who moved together to Italy to be close to Taddeucci’s family. But McCall was denied a residency visa.
The visa was denied on the grounds that he was neither a “spouse” nor a family member of an Italian citizen. The Italian courts refused to recognize their relationship, forcing the couple to leave Italy in order to be able to live together.
They applied to the European Court, arguing that their rights to non-discrimination and to the enjoyment of family life had been violated.
The ICJ, ILGA-Europe and NELFA submitted a joint third party intervention arguing that conditioning residency on marital status constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, given that in many countries same-sex couples are denied access to marriage, and that unmarried couples are families regardless of formal legal status. As families, their relationship should be leally recognised and protected by the state.
Italy-Taddeucci_&_McCall_v_Italy-legal submission-2012-Eng (text in PDF)
During the 81st session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Committee will examine the combined first to third periodic reports of Thailand.
In July 2012, the ICJ issued a legal memorandum in collaboration with the FIDH concerning economic, social and cultural rights in Tunisia.
This memorandum has been brought to the attention of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly and the Ministry for Human Rights and Transitional Justice for their consideration within the framework of the legal reform process that the country is currently undertaking.
The ICJ and the FIDH are convinced that this reform process, especially the elaboration of a new Constitution, offers Tunisia a unique opportunity to ensure the effective protection of all human rights in compliance with international law standards.
Tunisie CIJ-FIDH_NoteJuridiqueDESC-legal submission 2012 (Download in French)
The ICJ today submitted a report to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, ahead of her report to the UN General Assembly in October 2012.
Responding to a questionnaire prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the ICJ’s report focusses on the following thematic and country issues:
ICJ-SRHRDs-QuestionnaireResponse-legal submission (2012) (download PDF)
HRDs-GAReport (download the Special Rapporteur’s report)
Thailand: Three draft anti-SLAPP laws must deliver comprehensive protection
Egypt’s Matsda2sh case: end the crackdown on media workers with fake “terrorism” charges
Joint Letter: Addressing Human Rights Abuses During Vietnam’s To Lam’s Visit
Joint Letter: Urgent diplomatic action to halt further executions in eastern Libya