Written declaration No. 597 | Doc. 13847 | 02 July 2015

Human rights questions in referenda

Signatories: Mr Matjaž HANŽEK, Slovenia, UEL ; Ms Athanasia ANAGNOSTOPOULOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Tuur ELZINGA, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Gvozden Srećko FLEGO, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Nazmi GÜR, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Françoise HETTO-GAASCH, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Ms Vasiliki KATRIVANOU, Greece, UEL ; Ms Ioanneta KAVVADIA, Greece, UEL ; Ms Ksenija KORENJAK KRAMAR, Slovenia, ALDE ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Saša MAGAZINOVIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC ; Mr Olli-Poika PARVIAINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Ms Maria Edera SPADONI, Italy, NR ; Mr Dimitris VITSAS, Greece, UEL ; Ms Katrin WERNER, Germany, UEL ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

The National Assembly of Slovenia adopted the Amendment to the Marriage and Family Relations Act which rectified a discriminatory state of affairs. This amendment expands to same-sex couples the extent of all the basic social, economic and legal rights, which were so far unwarrantably provided to different-sex couples. By adopting the Amendment, equality before the law was implemented.

Rightist political parties and several conservative civic groups with a strong anti-gay and religious agenda declare themselves protectors of children and family and oppose the adopted changes. The homophobic civil groups, which oppose the right of same-sex couples to adoption, claim that same-sex families are not real families and that children need and have the right to have both a mother and a father.

These groups proposed a referendum on this topic, which was refused by the National Assembly because it is in conflict with the Constitution and it is against human rights. However, this decision is now being questioned by the Constitutional Court.

We, the undersigned, are convinced that a referendum on human rights is inadmissible, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.