ICJ and others welcome European Court judgment on same-sex second-parent adoption
The European Court of Human Rights today ruled that an Austrian ban on same-sex second-parent adoption is discriminatory.
B125/11 B138/11, Constitutional Court of Austria (12 December 2012)
Same-sex partners who have registered partnerships should be entitled to use the same ceremony as opposite-sex couples for marriage. Any difference in the treatment between marriage and registered partnerships can only be justified by particularly serious reasons. B 125/11, B 138/11, Constitutional Court of Austria (12 december 2012), (Full text of judgment in German, PDF)
B-1405/10, Constitutional Court of Austria (22 September 2011)
The exclusion of opposite-sex couples from registered partnerships is constitutionally valid. Heterosexuals are not a disadvantaged group and so difference in treatment need not be justified by particularly serious reasons. B-1405/10, Constitutional Court of Austria (22 September 2011) (Full text of judgment in German, PDF)
B 518/11, Constitutional Court of Austria (22 September 2011)
Same-sex couples who are registered partners and married opposite-sex couples should have the same treatment with regards to hyphenation of their family names. Same-sex couples should equally profit from constitutional protection of the family. B 518/11, Constitutional Court of Austria (22 September 2011) (Full text of judgment in German, PDF)
Case of Schalk and Kopf v. Austria
The ICJ and other human rights groups submitted an intervention in Schalk & Kopf v. Austria case.
Attacks on Justice 2002: Austria
Concern has arisen recently about the independence of the judiciary in Austria. An indicator of this concern was an open letter that was signed by two thirds of all judges and public prosecutors of the country.