2024-06-29 16:08 update: 2024-07-01, 21:44
Photo PAP/Paweł Supernak
The Polish government has the obligation to legalise civil unions under a verdict by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the country's ombudsman has said.
In December last year, the ECHR issued a ruling in a case brought before the court by five Polish same-sex couples, who demanded the legalisation of their partnerships. In the verdict, the ECHR said that Poland had breached the European Convention on Human Rights and is obliged to recognise and implement protection of same-sex couples.
Marcin Wiacek told the private broadcaster TVN24 on Saturday that "a civil union is something that at the moment is the duty of the state."
According to him, Poland's constitution does not exclude the possibility for a child to be raised by the parent's same-sex partner.
"It is the court that rules whether the situation in which the child will find itself after adoption will be in line with the supreme value, which is the welfare of the child," Wiacek said, adding that the constitution leaves some freedom for legislators in this respect.
Wiacek also said that the ECHR ruling "does not imply that a civil union must also include the right to adoption of a child."
Poland is one of five EU member states, apart from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Slovakia, that do not offer same-sex couples the possibility to legalise their partnerships. (PAP)
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