EU court rejects 'gay tests' for asylum seekers

IANS  |  Luxembourg 

The European (ECJ) on Thursday ruled that sexual orientation tests can not be used to determine

The ruling effectively bans the testing of sexual orientation to determine the right to asylum, declaring it to be "disproportionate" and an invasion of "the most intimate aspects" of life, the reported.

The ECJ's ruling is binding in all 28 EU states.

The case relates to a Nigerian man who submitted an asylum application in in April 2015.

He said he feared persecution in for being gay. The Nigerian's claim was rejected after a psychologist's report failed to confirm his homosexuality.

A court in Szeged, Hungary, must now reconsider his case in light of the ECJ ruling.

Hundreds of homosexuals fearing persecution in Africa, the and have sought asylum in the EU, the reported.

Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, and

In December 2014 the ECJ ruled on a similar case in the and found that sexuality tests violated asylum seekers' human rights.

In the new ruling, the ECJ said "certain forms of expert reports may prove useful" in such cases, but added that such reports interfered with a person's privacy.

In 2013, the court ruled that asylum could be granted in cases where people were actually jailed for homosexuality in their home country.

--IANS

soni/bg

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First Published: Thu, January 25 2018. 20:18 IST