''Bączkowski and Others v. Poland'' was a

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

case which ruled unanimously that the banning of an

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

pride parade in Warsaw, locally known as the

Parada Równości Equality Parade () is an LGBT community pride parade held in Warsaw since 2001, usually in May or June. It has attracted at least several thousand attendees each year; 20,000 attendees (the largest number of any year prior to 2017) were reporte ...

(equality parade), in 2005 was in violation of Articles 11, 13 and 14 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

Background

In 2005, the

Mayor of Warsaw The Mayor of Warsaw (officially in ) is the head of the executive of the capital of Poland elected directly during local elections for a term of five years. Overview The first city mayor of Warsaw was Jan Andrzej Menich (1695–1696). Th ...

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

(later

President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

), refused to allow a gay pride parade to take place through the city, justifying his decision by the fact that the organisers had not submitted a traffic organisation plan, that such a parade would promote a "homosexual lifestyle" in Warsaw, and that he is against "propagating gay orientation". Despite this, on 11 June 2005, approximately 2500 people marched, in defiance of the ban.Gay marchers ignore ban in Warsaw
''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

'', 11 June 2005 One day before the parade, on 10 June 2005, the organisers appealed to the Governor of the

Mazowsze Voivodship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 population of 5,411,446, m ...

, arguing that the city's decision had breached their right to peaceful assembly. The Governor ruled that the city's requirement of a traffic organisation plan had been unlawful and that the parade was unlawfully restricted. Despite this, further proceedings were discontinued considering that the parade had taken place on 11 June 2005. On 16 December 2005, the organisers of the parade, headed by Tomasz Bączkowski Tomasz Szypuła and Yga Kostrzewa, began a court case against the Republic of Poland at the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that their right to peaceful assembly had been breached and that they had been treated in a discriminatory manner, considering that other marches were allowed to take place on June 11. The ECHR accepted the case on 5 December 2006.

Judgment

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that, even though the march still took place, the fact that it was banned by the city authorities represents an infringement of freedom of assembly under

Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democr ...

. Additionally, the ruling affirmed that: The court also stated that Poland had violated Article 14 of the Convention, because other marches which had taken place on the same day were not subject to the same conditions as the gay rights march and were allowed to take place. Furthermore, the court ruled that Article 13 of the Convention, relating to the

right to an effective remedy The right to an effective remedy is the right of a person whose human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by bo ...

, had been violated in that the organisers did not have any legal procedure at their disposal which would have enabled them to appeal the decision before the date on which the march was set to be held.

Reactions

The ruling was hailed by LGBT rights groups as a landmark decision for the rights of LGBT people to freedom of assembly. According to

Robert Biedroń Robert Biedroń (; born 13 April 1976) is a Polish politician, former mayor of Słupsk, and LGBT activist who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is the Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equal ...

, the leader of

Campaign Against Homophobia Campaign Against Homophobia (, KPH) is a Polish LGBTQ rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside of heteronormativity, heteronormality. It was founded in Warsaw in September 2001. It has local branche ...

, a Polish LGBT rights organisation, the ruling represented a "very important step towards equality for gay and lesbian people in Poland and... also in several other countries in central and eastern Europe."Poland Gay March Ban Violates Human Rights
, '' Queerty.com'', 4 May 2007

Michael Cashman Colin Michael Maurice Cashman, Baron Cashman, (born 17 December 1950) is a British actor, dancer, politician, and LGBT rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands from 1 ...

, the head of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights, stated that:

Sarah Ludford Sarah Ann Ludford, Baroness Ludford (born 14 March 1951) is a British-Irish Liberal Democrat politician and member of the House of Lords. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London from 1999 until 2014. Early life and ed ...

, a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

MEP from the United Kingdom, declared that, "this judgement is extremely important as it is the first time that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled specifically on the question of banning Equality and Gay Pride marches. Its clarification that freedom of assembly applies fully to these events is, while fully expected, nonetheless welcome." No official reaction has yet been released by the Polish authorities. However, the Secretary of State, Maciej Lopinski, stated that "the president ech Kaczynskimay take further action", and in 2007 there have been some speculation that the president of Poland may appeal against the verdict (which did not happen).Polish gay activists win human rights case
Poland.pl, 4 May 2007

Notes

External links

* * Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights case law on LGBTQ rights European Court of Human Rights cases involving Poland 2007 in LGBTQ history LGBTQ rights in Poland 2007 in case law 2007 in Poland Equality marches in Poland {{LGBT in Poland

Background

Judgment

Reactions

See also

Notes

External links