Did the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently rule that Romania must legalize same-sex marriage? No, that's not true: the court found that Romania breached the European Convention on Human Rights and that it had a duty to provide legal recognition and protection for same-sex relationships.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on May 25, 2023, under the title "EHCR, go away! RoExit!🇷🇴🙏🏻".
It opened:
#foryou Romania is not allowed to accept such a thing, NEVER!!!
(Translation from Romanian into English by Lead Stories staff).
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue May 30 12:26:48 2023 UTC)
The ECHR's decision, issued on May, 23, 2023, concerns the case of Buhuceanu and Others v. Romania, in which 21 same-sex couples complained it was impossible for them to enter together into any type of legally recognized union in Romania, thus having no means of legally safeguarding their relationships. The Romanian state currently does not recognize any kind of civil union between partners, regardless of their sex.
The court found that Romania violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (namely concerning "the right to respect for private and family life") and that it had a duty to provide adequate recognition and protection for same-sex relationships, while maintaining "discretion as to the form and the protections afforded".
The decision does not establish that Romania has to legalize same-sex marriage: The EHCR does not have the power to override the national Constitution or laws that already exist. Its task is to ensure that the member states of the Council of Europe that have ratified the Convention on Human Rights respect the rights and the guarantees set out in it.
