NGOs and civil society organizations in Kosovo have launched a petition to include same-sex marriage in Kosovo’s Civil Code.
A number of Kosovo CSOs have noted that the country’s Draft-Civil Code violates LGBT people’s civil right to partnership. The Code defines marriage “as a legally registered community between two spouses of different sexes,” and states that “the husband and wife” have a right to marry and create a family. Meanwhile, it allows for the possible establishment of other civil unions via special law.
The regulation of same-sex relationships via special law, CSOs argue, constitutes discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, as precedent shows that issues relegated to a special law “have actually never been regulated in Kosovo.”
Additionally, Kosovo’s Minister of Justice stated in a July 7 press conference that he has been able to preserve the “traditional nucleus” of marriage, something that the organizations claim demonstrates a clear favoring of opposite-sex unions.
Thus, based on article 37 of the Constitution of Kosovo “which guarantees the right to marriage and family for all citizens,” the petition demands all possible partnerships, be they marriages or civil unions, to be regulated by the Civil Code of Kosovo.
Earlier this month, Montenegro became the first Western Balkan country to pass a law on the recognition of same-sex partnerships.
