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29th UPR session
Date of review: 18 January 2018
Date of report adoption: 29 June 2018
Document number: A/HRC/38/11
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SUMMARY SOGIESC issues during Luxembourg’s 3rd UPR review |
I. SOGIESC issues/recommendations identified by NGOs and other stakeholders
Information provided by the national human rights institution accredited in full compliance with the Paris Principles
9. The Advisory Commission congratulated the Government on the drafting of a bill to allow transgender persons to change their names to match their gender, and on the adoption of a law permitting same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.
Equality and non-discrimination
27. CoE-ECRI strongly recommended that Luxembourg expressly provide that racist or homophobic/transphobic motivation constitutes an aggravating circumstance for any ordinary offence, explicitly make public insults, public defamation and racist and homophobic/transphobic threats a criminal offence and include the grounds of language and gender identity in the provisions of the Penal Code aimed at combating racism and homophobia/transphobia.
29. OSCE/ODHIR stated that Luxembourg had never submitted data on hate crimes. The Criminal Code included penalty enhancements for specific offences and a substantive offence. The police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice had been collected data, but these had never been made publicly available.CoE-ECRI recommended that the police and judicial authorities establish and operate a system for recording and monitoring racist incidents and the extent to which these incidents are brought before the prosecutors and eventually qualified as racist or homophobic/transphobic offences. It added that the authorities should publish these statistics.
30. CoE-ECRI further recommended, inter alia, that Luxembourg initiate a review of the regulatory framework for the media in order to prevent and eliminate hate speech in this area; encourage the media to develop measures to combat hate speech on their websites; and work towards ensuring that the social media and internet access providers ban hate speech in their conditions of use and enforce that ban. All these measures should strictly comply with the principle of media independence.
31. CoE-ECRI also recommended that Luxembourg implement measures to promote understanding and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, especially in schools. They should also provide all pupils and students with the information, protection and support necessary to enable them to live in accordance with their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Right to privacy and family life
49. EU-FRA noted that since 2015, Luxembourg had allowed same-sex couples to marry.
II. Excerpts on SOGIESC issues from the national report
Non-discrimination
Adoption of the draft law on same-sex marriage and its comprehensive implementation [118.46]
16. A law on same-sex marriage was approved on 18 June 2014 by the Chamber of Deputies. That law was promulgated on 17 July 2014 and entered into force on 1 January 2015. The first same-sex marriage took place on 1 January 2015. A law was adopted on 23 May 2016 on the recognition of marriages in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg which amended the Civil Code in order to establish certainty and predictability with regard to the recognition in Luxembourg of same-sex marriages entered into outside the country and of validated adoptions of children by parents of the same sex concluded outside the country prior to the entry into force of the law of 4 July 2014 that amended the existing law on marriage.
Combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of hatred
36. The 2015-2018 National Action Plan for Equality between Women and Men is being incorporated into the workplans of the relevant ministerial departments. In addition, a national action plan is being developed for the promotion and protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in close consultation with civil society and other stakeholders.
Gender-based violence/violence against women and girls/domestic violence
48. Bill No. 7167 would amend: (1) the Criminal Code; (2) the Code of Criminal Procedure; (3) the Domestic Violence Act of 8 September 2003, as amended; and (4) the Free Movement of Persons and Immigration Act of 29 August 2008. The bill was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies on 10 August 2017 and is to serve as the instrument for approving the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, which was signed in Istanbul on 11 May 2011. Its aim is to provide effective means of combating gender-based and domestic violence. The main changes to be introduced by Bill No. 7167 are the following:
• Adding the concept of gender identity to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination;
50. Genital mutilation is prohibited under Luxembourg law. The Child and Family Assistance Act of 16 December 2008 prohibits physical and sexual violence, intergenerational transgression, inhuman and degrading treatment and genital mutilation in family and educational settings, in particular (article 2). Although there is no provision in the Criminal Code that deals specifically with genital mutilation (a void that will be filled by the passage of Bill No. 7167), criminal sanctions exist and are applicable in such cases. Article 400 of the Criminal Code, on assault and battery, sets out terms of imprisonment of from 2 to 5 years and fines of from 500 euros to 5,000 euros if the bodily harm that was caused results in an apparently incurable disorder, a permanent disability that prevents a person from working, the loss of full use of an organ or a serious mutilation. The penalty increases to from 5 to 10 years if the assailant acted with premeditation
III. Excerpts on SOGIESC issues by UN agencies
No references.
IV. References to SOGIESC issues during the Working Group review
14. Regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and nondiscrimination, draft bill No. 7146 had been submitted in May 2017 specifically to strengthen the rights of transgender and intersex persons through the introduction of an administrative procedure for amending the mention of the sex in civil status documents and the corresponding first names. Moreover, thought was being given to the possible introduction of a third gender-related indication for civil status documents. Finally, in September 2017, a draft bill had been submitted for the inclusion of “gender identity” among the grounds for unlawful discrimination enumerated in article 454 of the Criminal Code.
37. The Netherlands congratulated Luxembourg on the adoption and implementation of the draft law on marriage between same-sex persons. It encouraged Luxembourg to lead by example in the protection of press freedom worldwide. It considered that a national action plan on business and human rights was particularly relevant, as Luxembourg was home to many large companies.
40. Portugal welcomed the positive steps taken by Luxembourg since the last universal periodic review to ensure equality between the sexes, by strengthening the participation of women in politics and the economy.
45. Slovenia expressed appreciation for the midterm report of the universal periodic review. It welcomed information on positive developments, such as the ratification of international human rights instruments and the adoption of the law on same-sex marriage.
48. Australia welcomed the commitment of Luxembourg to gender equality and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. It welcomed increased law enforcement procedures to counter human trafficking and commended Luxembourg for legalizing same-sex marriage. It acknowledged the efforts of Luxembourg to support gender equality.
56. Uruguay highlighted legislative reforms to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
70. Switzerland welcomed the measures taken by Luxembourg to strengthen gender equality, the political and economic participation of women, as well as the rights of transgender and intersex persons, and measures to prevent domestic violence.
89. France welcomed the ratification by Luxembourg of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the establishment of an Interministerial Human Rights Committee and enhancement of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons.
V. Conclusions and/or recommendations
Luxembourg accepted the following recommendations:
106.57 Continue to progress legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons by adopting the draft law of May 2017 on the modification of sex and names, and amendment of the Civil Code, and increasing publicly available information on rights for intersex persons (Australia);
106.113 Continue to make efforts to combat gender-based violence and violence against women and girls, as well as domestic violence (Myanmar);
106.114 Implement programmes to promote cooperation between NGOs and law enforcement to combat domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence (United States of America);
VI. Further information
You will find all documents relating to Luxembourg’s third review at UPR-Info and OHCHR’s websites.