Should same sex couples have a right to marriage? This question has been debated frequently during the last two decades. The legislation across Europe shows a divide between countries that have legalised same-sex marriage and countries that have introduced constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Using a theory that emphasises the moral dimension of human rights, I examine the right to marriage in the European Convention of Human Rights from an ethical perspective. The purpose of this thesis is threefold. The first aim is to investigate how the right to marriage is regulated in The European Convention on Human Rights and how its interpreted by The European Court of Human Rights. The second aim is to identify and assess central arguments in the debate about same sex marriage from a human rights perspective. The third and final aim is to perform a critical examination of the right to marriage in the European Convention of Human rights from an ethical perspective. This study shows that The European Court of Human Rights is cautious in its interpretation of the right to marriage and has chosen to await a European consensus before including same-sex couples in the right to marriage. By looking closer at the evolutionary interpretation of the convention, as discussed by George Letsas & Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, I conclude that this interpretation should be based on certain moral principles. Through the examination of central arguments in the same-sex marriage debate I draw the conclusion that same sex couples have a moral right to marriage. Thus, this thesis suggests that there is a contradiction between the moral dimension of human rights and The European Court of Human Rights interpretation of the right to marriage for same-sex couples. I therefore argue that there should be an ethical demand to include same sex-couples in the right to marriage.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-411824 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Jehrlander, Frida |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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