Constitutional Court of Slovenia upholds equal rights for same sex partners

17 August 2009

On 2 July 2009, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia held that Article 22 of the Registration of Same Sex Partnerships Act (RSSPA) violated the right to non-discrimination under Article 14 of the Constitution on the ground of sexual orientation.

The decision was handed down in the case of Blazic and Kern v. Slovenia U-I-425/06-10. The applicants challenged Article 22, which sets out the inheritance regulations for same sex partnerships, on the basis that it regulated inheritance for same sex partners differently, and less favourably, than the Inheritance Act regulated inheritance for opposite sex partners.

The judgment which was adopted unanimously by all nine Constitutional Court judges is the first time that sexual orientation has been confirmed as a protected ground on which discrimination is prohibited under the “any other personal circumstance” clause of Article 14(1) of the Constitution.

 

Further information

To read the full article, click here (source: Equal Right Trust: www.equalrightstrust.org)

To read the ERT case summary, click here