Latvia - November 2023

In a final reading, the Parliament adopted legislation to recognise same-sex partnerships for the first time. The legislation allows partners to visit each other in hospital, to provide consent for each other’s medical treatment, and expands access to social security and tax benefits for same-sex couples. Civil society noted that there is more work to be done, since the changes do not include the right to adopt children or for partners to inherit from each other. The legislation, submitted by the Ministry of Justice, follows a Constitutional Court ruling in 2020 which found that the state must provide legal protections to same-sex partners. According to the amendments, same-sex couples will be able to register partnerships from 1 July 2024. However, opposition parties have resisted the changes, and have set out to halt the legislation and collect the 154,241 signatures (representing 10 per cent of Latvia’s electorate) required to put it to a referendum.

Sources: Saeima (1), Saeima (2), Saeima (3), Politico, PinkNews, LSM (1), LSM (2), LSM (3), LSM (4)

The Parliament narrowly voted to ratify the Istanbul Convention, approving legislation introduced by the Ministry of Welfare with the support of 51 of 100 MPs. As a party to the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty, the Latvian government is required to develop policies to prevent violence against women and domestic violence, provide protection and support to victims, and step up cooperation with institutions such as civil society and the media. Ratification had been held up in Parliament over the Convention’s use of the term “social gender,” which conservative MPs linked with ideological debates on gender identity. In response, MPs endorsed a declaration parallel to the law on ratification stating that this phrase does not require Latvia’s legal and educational systems to adopt “any other understanding of gender”. Incidents of gender-based violence this year spurred renewed calls for ratification, including a woman’s murder by her ex-partner in Jēkabpils in April.

Sources: LSM (1), LSM (2), Saeima (1), Saeima (2), Saeima (3), Saeima (4), Council of Europe, LRT, Baltic Times, Likumi