LGBT People, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

Abstract A principal aim of the Council of Europe is the maintenance and further realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive but condensed assessment of the history and the contemporary state of human rights protection offered to LGBT people by the Council of Europe and, importantly, identify the gaps that currently exist in that protection. The chapter examines the work of the statutory organs of the Council of Europe—the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly—as well as the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on a wide range of issues relating to LGBT people.