Amendment XXXIII of the Constitution of Macedonia violates the right to privacy and threatens the family instead of protecting it!

Dear Madame / Sir

PINK Embassy / LGBT Pro Albania, LGBT United Tetovo, Macedonia and BABELNOR Network have learned with regret the recent initiative of the Government of Macedonia to limit not only the right to marriage as an exclusive union between a man and a woman but also civil unions and other partnerships. Considered as a non-transparent process, the new Amendment, if passed, risks marginalising even further and making more difficult the lives of LGBTI people in Macedonia.

While in many European and Balkan countries, progress is being made in recognizing the rights and freedoms of LGBTI people we fear that Macedonia is making a huge step backwards which will take years to undo. We believe that this will put the LGBTI community and the people of Macedonia far behind its neighbouring countries towards increasing the quality of life and achieving equality among its citizens.

In today’s Balkan societies inequality is becoming a growing problem. Homophobia and transphobia are two phenomena not just inherited by repressive regimes of the past but also incited by nationalism and inter-ethnic conflicts. These tendencies should not develop by limiting the rights and freedoms of citizens, including here their right to marry and create a family. Apart from limiting marriage and the rights deriving from it, as you will see below, this Constitutional limitation of the right to civil unions and partnerships constitutes not only a dangerous precedent for Europe but also a flagrant violation of privacy and family life for LGBTI people.

We believe that this is not the unanimous opinion of all Macedonian people. We believe that this cultural diversity of our neighbour should serve as a motive and argument that the current walls of disagreement should fall down once and for all. People, despite their race, faith, political opinions, ethnic origin, language, sexual orientation or gender identity are first and foremost human beings and the Constitution of their country should serve to protect and enjoy those rights and should not become an authoritative instrument which reminds us of the nationalist-extremist regimes of the past century.

We invite your institution to work in this direction and to influence positively by saying NO to this Constitutional Amendment which will further deteriorate the human rights situation in Macedonia and consequently in the Western Balkans. Say yes to LOVE!

Yours sincerely

PINK Embassy / LGBT Pro Albania
LGBT United Tetovo Macedonia
BABELNOR Network

This open letter has been sent from PINK Embassy, LGBT United Tetovo, Macedonia and the BABELNOR Network, to Albanian Prime Minister, Mr. Edi Rama, Mr. Ditmir Bushati, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, the Ambassador of Macedonia to Tirana, the Ambassador of Albania to Macedonia, the Albanian political parties in Macedonia, human rights organizations, media and the international community.

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Draft Amendment XXXIII to the Constitution of Macedonia - Protection of Marriage or Limitation of the Right to Private and Family Life?

To Whom It May Concern,

The Government of the Republic of Macedonia has proposed changes to the Constitution including Amendment 33 which defines marriage and civil unions, but also any other form of registered life partnership, exclusively as a union between one man and one woman. Below is the text of Amendment 33 that regulates marriage, civil unions and any other registered form of life partnership:

AMENDMENT XXXIII

1. Marriage shall be a life union solely of one woman and one man.
2. A civil union, or any other registered form of life partnership, shall be a life union solely between one woman and one man.

On the 7th of July 2014, seven proposed constitutional amendments, including the Amendment XXXIII that was meant to provide for a ‘clearer definition’ of marriage as a union between one man and one woman entered into Parliamentary debate along with the other proposed constitutional amendments. These amendments, however, contained only the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The definition of civil union as a union between one man and one woman was not included in the proposal but was nonetheless included in the draft amendments, which was a flagrant violation of the procedure for constitutional changes and an audacious abuse of the decision of the Parliament to proceed with the originally proposed constitutional amendments. On the 27th of August 2014, the seven draft amendments were passed in national Parliament and there, the proposed Amendment XXXIII contained definitions of civil unions, or any other registered forms of life partnership as life unions solely between one woman and one man.

Therefore, we are writing you to express our concerns regarding the draft constitutional amendments in Macedonia which include the definition of marriage and civil unions exclusively as unions between one man and one woman. We are deeply concerned about LGBTI rights in Macedonia for there are numerous instances of human rights violations and absence of effective protection and persecution by the state authorities. Therefore we believe that this change will only enhance discrimination, violence, and hate speech toward the LGBTI community. The exclusive constitutional definition of marriage, civil unions, and any other form of registered partnership is discriminatory toward LGBTI people by restricting their right to family life and all the civil and social rights arising from it.

The contemporary international jurisprudence has already taken a position on this issue. In the case of Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (No. 30141/04, ECHR 2010), European Court for Human Rights stated that the relationship of a cohabiting same-sex couple living in a stable de facto partnership is falls into the category of ‘family life’, just as would be the case with different-sex couples in a comparable situation. In the case Vallianatos and others v. Greece (29381/09 and 32684/09), the court ruled that the legislative exclusion of registered civil same-sex partnerships presents a violation of Article 14 (Prohibition of discrimination) taken in conjunction with Article 8 (Right to respect for private and family life). In its Opinion on the Fourth Amendment of the Fundamental Law (Constitution) of Hungary, from 14-15 June 2013, the Venice Commission clearly stated that a formulation with similar restrictions to family life was not aligned with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, calling upon the reasoning provided in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (see above). In other words, the state is truly completely free to define marriage as a form of union and the forming of a family (Art.12, ECHR), but as soon as it begins granting other rights and privileges inherent to marriage to de-facto partnerships that cannot be considered as ‘married’ under national laws (registered partnerships), then and sexual orientation and gender identity of such individuals must not be an obstacle to the exercise of those rights.

If this effort of the Macedonian Government gets voted by the national Parliament and incorporated into the national Constitution, it will create precedence in European law on restricting the right of family life through the use of Constitutional mechanisms. This presents a danger to the development of human rights in Europe, because it is a model that can easily be later applied in other national contexts. To be more specific, the constitutional restriction of international human rights standards is not regulated equally among states in Europe. Those countries that claim supremacy of domestic constitutional law over international law can impose constitutional restrictions that are not aligned with international human rights law and standards, and in the same time are superior in the national legal system. In return, this can make the reaction of the International community much more difficult and much less fruitful.

With this letter, BABELNOR Network calls on the international community and ask for public reactions that would prevent the constitutional definition of marriage and civil unions exclusively as unions between one woman and one man.

We call for and encourage all our international friends, human rights and democracy advocates to demand from the Macedonian Parliament, President and Government not to support Amendment 33 of the constitutional changes. Also, we call for and encourage all our partners to inform their respective Governments of the violations that this Amendment can impose on the right to family life, and the consequences it can have in other national contexts.

Sincerely,

• National Network Against Homophobiaand Transphobia of Macedonia
• Helsinki Committee for Human Rights LGBTI Support Center, LGBT United Tetovo, Macedonia
• Subversive Front, Macedonia Women’s Alliance
• Coalition 'Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities', Macedonia
• SETA RY, Finland
• Norwegian Helsinki Committee
• Queer Youth Norway
• QESh, Kosovo
• LeGeBiTra, Slovenia
• Queer Montenegro
• RFSL-Ungdom, Sweden
• Labris, Serbia
• LiGa, Ukraine
• The European AIDS Treatment Group
• Slovensko seksološko društvo and Društvo ŠKUC, Slovenia
• Slovensko seksološko društvo, Slovenia
• Centre for Civil Initiatives Porec, Croatia
• PRO LGBT, Albania
• Društvo za odpravljanje socielne neenakosti Appareo, Slovenia
• Sarajevo Open Center, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• PINK Embassy, Albania
• Gay Lesbian Info Center, Serbia
• Zagreb Pride, Croatia
• Asocijacija Duga, Serbia
• Alliance against discrimination of LGBT, Albania
• EGAL, Macedonia
• HOPS, Macedonia
• HERA, Macedonia
• FRIK Banda, Macedonia
• Zaedno posilni, Macedonia
• Izlez, Macedonia
• Bori se zenski, Macedonia
• Tit Inc., Macedonia
• Youth Educational Forum, Macedonia
• STAR – STAR, Macedonia
• Civil, Macedonia
• Akcija Zdruzenska, Macedonia
• ESE, Macedonia
• Lesbian and Feminist Support Group, Macedonia
• KAOS GL, Turkey
• Athens Pride, Greece
• Thessaloniki Pride
• PINK Armenia
• qSPORT, Croatia
• Samtökin ’78, Iceland