The European Court of Human Rights rules that Italy should introduce legal recognition for same-sex couples

On July 21, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Oliari and Others v. Italy (application no. 18766/11 and 36030/11) held that Italy violated Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights by not providing legal recognition for same-sex couples.  The case concerned three homosexual couples who complained that, under Italian legislation, they had no possibility to get married or enter into another kind of civil union.  The European Court of Human Rights found that the legal protections available to same-sex couples in Italy failed to provide for the core needs relevant to couples in stable, committed relationships and that the current legal protections are not sufficiently reliable.  The Court further pointed out that there is a trend towards legal recognition of same-sex couples among Council of Europe member states and that the Italian Constitutional Court had called for such protection and recognition numerous times.  In addition, based on recent surveys, the Court found that a majority of the Italian population supported legal recognition of same-sex couples.

The full text of the European Court of Human Rights' press release and the full text of the decision are available on the Court's website.