This submission responds to Georgia's 16 April 2025 Action Plan concerning the A.D. and Others v. Georgia judgment and provides an update on the further regressive developments in the area of legal gender recognition and the broader LGBTI issues in Georgia.1
The government's plan demonstrates open defiance of Georgia's obligations under Article 46 of the Convention, escalating a pattern of non-compliance since the judgment became final in March 2023. Rather than implementing measures, the government has explicitly contested the Court's findings by invoking "national interests and traditional values" and claiming there is "no uniform European practice" regarding legal gender recognition.2
This defiance culminated in December 2024. Despite the Committee of Ministers' strong condemnation of the initiative in September 2024 and its explicit calls for individual measures,3 the government adopted the Law "On the Protection of Family Values and Minors" (hereinafter „the Law“).4 The legal framework is now even more restrictive than it was at the time of the original violations, essentially outlawing legal gender recognition.
Executive Summary
In September 2024, Georgia adopted the Law "On the Protection of Family Values and Minors, (also commonly known as anti-LGBTI law)", establishing complete ban of legal gender recognition and criminalising gender-affirming healthcare. The adoption of this regressive law, which essentially outlaws the existence and protection of trans people, runs counter to the Convention norms and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and contradicts, squarely, the findings of the Court in A.D. and Others v Georgia. In its decision of September 2024 on this group, the CM emphasized that the adoption of such legislation ‘could raise serious questions as to the compliance by Georgia with its obligation to abide by the final judgments of the Court’ and strongly urged the Parliament to not enact this law. Such a blatant dismissal of the CM call and the adoption of this highly repressive law is a clear refusal to comply with the respective judgment.
The government's April 2025 Action Plan, which represents open defiance, explicitly contesting the Court's findings and declaring that decisions should be taken in accordance with "national interests and traditional values", further indicates their refusal to comply with very clear, uncontested individual and general measures arising from the judgment.
This submission by the signatory organisations provides an update on the applicants’ individual situations and on further regressive domestic developments affecting the whole trans community, and sets out recommendations to the CM in the context of a highly hostile domestic legal and political environment for trans people and the whole LGBT community in Georgia. This submission should be read together with our previous Rule 9 submissions made in this group of cases in August 2024 and October 2023.
See the full report at the link below:
1 A.D. and Others v. Georgia, Application No. 57864/17, judgment of 1 December 2022, para. 1.
2 Ibid., paras. 6-7.
3 CM/Del/Dec(2024)1507/H46-8, 19 September 2024.
4 Law "On the Protection of Family Values and Minors," adopted 17 September 2024, available at: https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/6283110?publication=0
