Restriction of Access to Healthcare and Discrimination of Individuals of Sexual and Gender Minority: An Analysis of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from an Ethical Perspective
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Descriptive Statistics
2.2. Thematic Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Countries
3.2. Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights
3.3. Categories
3.3.1. Judgments Involving Limited Access to Healthcare
3.3.2. Judgments Involving Discrimination by Restriction of Parental Rights
3.3.3. Judgments Involving Discrimination by the Disrespect of Sexual Identity or Sexual Orientation
3.3.4. Judgments Involving Discrimination by Jurisdiction
3.3.5. Judgments Involving Discrimination by the Prohibition of Promotion of Sexual Diversity
3.3.6. Judgments Involving Discrimination by Verbal or Physical Attacks
4. Discussion
4.1. Cases Involving Limited Access to Healthcare
4.2. Cases Involving All Other Identified Types of Discrimination
4.3. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights | Name of the Article | Judgments Involving This Article | Judgments in Which at Least One Violation of This Article Was Found (Either Alone or in Conjunction with Other Articles) |
---|---|---|---|
Article 3 | Prohibition of torture | n = 11 (15.07%) | n = 8 (10.96%) |
Article 5 | Right to liberty and security | n = 3 (4.11%) | n = 3 (4.11%) |
Article 6 | Right to a fair trial | n = 6 (8.22%) | n = 4 (5.48%) |
Article 8 | Right to respect for private and family life | n = 55 (75.34%) | n = 42 (57.53%) |
Article 9 | Freedom of thought, conscience and religion | n = 1 (1.37%) | n = 0 |
Article 10 | Freedom of expression | n = 6 (8.22%) | n = 2 (2.74%) |
Article 11 | Freedom of assembly and association | n = 9 (12.33%) | n = 8 (10.96%) |
Article 12 | Right to marry | n = 9 (12.33%) | n = 2 (2.74%) |
Article 13 | Right to an effective remedy | n = 10 (13.70%) | n = 6 (8.22%) |
Article 14 | Prohibition of discrimination | n = 57 (78.08%) | n = 33 (45.21%) |
Article 18 | Limitation on use of restrictions on rights | n = 1 (1.37%) | n = 1 (1.37%) |
Article 1 of Protocol No 1 | Protection of property | n = 1 (1.37%) | n = 1 (1.37%) |
Article 1 of Protocol No 12 | General prohibition of discrimination | n = 1 (1.37%) | n = 0 |
Country | No. of Judgments | Violation of … | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Art. 3 | Art. 5 | Art. 6 | Art. 8 | Art. 10 | Art. 11 | Art. 12 | Art. 13 | Art. 14 | Art. 18 | Art. 1 of Protocol 1 | ||
United Kingdom | 15 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Austria | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||||
Russia | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | |||
France | 5 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
Italy | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
Poland | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
Croatia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
Georgia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
Lithuania | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
Moldova | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
Portugal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Romania | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
Turkey | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Bulgaria | 1 | |||||||||||
Cyprus | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Finland | 1 | |||||||||||
Germany | 1 | |||||||||||
Greece | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Hungary | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Ireland | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Macedonia | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Spain | 1 | |||||||||||
Sweden | 1 | |||||||||||
Switzerland | 1 | 1 |
Main Category | Number (Percentage) of Judgments in the Main Category | Sub-Categories | Number (Percentage) of Judgments in Subcategories | Examples Presented in the Text |
---|---|---|---|---|
Limited access to healthcare | n = 7 (9.59%) | Restriction of reimbursement of hormone therapy and/or gender reassignment therapy | n = 1 (14.29%) | Van Kück v. Germany (35968/97) |
Difficulty to receive hormone therapy and/or gender reassignment surgery due to legal uncertainties | n = 3 (42.86%) | L. v. Lithuania (27527/03) | ||
Denial of artificial insemination | n = 1 (14.29%) | |||
Denial of extension of health insurance | n = 1 (14.29%) | |||
Denial of access to medical doctor | n = 1 (14.29%) | |||
Restriction of parental rights | n = 7 (9.59%) | Concerning transsexual individual | n = 1 (14.29%) | |
Concerning homosexual individuals | n = 6 (85.71%) | X and others v. Austria (19019/07 | ||
Disrespect of sexual identity/orientation | n = 23 (31.51%) | Concerning disrespect of sexual identity | n = 16 (69.57%) | B. v. France (13343/87) |
Concerning disrespect of sexual orientation | n = 7 (30.43%) | Pajic v. Croatia (68453/13) | ||
Discrimination by jurisdiction | n = 67 (91.78%) | Concerning transsexual individuals | n = 15 (22.39%) | Christine Goodwin v. the United Kingdom (28957/95) |
Concerning homosexual individuals | n = 45 (67.16%) | S. L. v. Austria (45330/99) | ||
Concerning trans- and homosexual individuals | n = 7 (10.45%) | |||
Prohibition of promotion of sexual diversity | n = 6 (8.22%) | Genderdoc-M v. Moldova (9106/06) | ||
Verbal or physical attacks | n = 12 (16.44%) | Concerning homosexual individuals | n = 5 (44.44%) | Sabalic v. Croatia (50231/13) |
Concerning trans- and homosexual individuals | n = 7 (55.56%) |
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Skuban, T.; Orzechowski, M.; Steger, F. Restriction of Access to Healthcare and Discrimination of Individuals of Sexual and Gender Minority: An Analysis of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from an Ethical Perspective. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052650
Skuban T, Orzechowski M, Steger F. Restriction of Access to Healthcare and Discrimination of Individuals of Sexual and Gender Minority: An Analysis of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from an Ethical Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(5):2650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052650
Chicago/Turabian StyleSkuban, Tobias, Marcin Orzechowski, and Florian Steger. 2022. "Restriction of Access to Healthcare and Discrimination of Individuals of Sexual and Gender Minority: An Analysis of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from an Ethical Perspective" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 5: 2650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052650