From: v087nha5@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (MICHAEL JONES) Subject: Re: Age of Consent (was Re: KRON (San Francisco) report on NAMB) Date: 20 Jan 92 19:17:00 GMT Organization: University at Buffalo New York University Law Review October, 1990 65 N.Y.U.L. Rev. 1044, 1090 NOTE: FINDING A CONSENSUS ON EQUALITY: THE HOMOSEXUAL AGE OF CONSENT AND THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS LAURENCE R. HELFER [omitted about 40 pages] The following chart documents the ages of consent in the Contracting States in 1990, the footnotes showing recent modifications, including those made after the Committee's report in 1981. n321 n321 See P. Tatchell, Out in Europe: A Guide to Lesbian and Gay Rights in 30 European Countries 18-19 (1990). No information is available on the age of consent in force in San Marino. MALE HOMOSEXUALS LESBIANS HETEROSEXUALS Spain n322 12 12 12 Italy n323 14 14 14 Denmark n324 15 15 15 France n325 15 15 15 Greece n326 15 15 15 Sweden n327 15 15 15 Belgium n328 16 16 16 Netherlands n329 16 16 16 Norway n330 16 16 16 Portugal n331 16 16 16 Switzerland n332 16 16 16 Malta n333 18 18 18 Turkey n334 18 18 18 Austria n335 18 14 14 Finland n336 18 18 16 Federal Republic of Germany n337 18 14 14 Iceland n338 18 16 16 Luxembourg n339 18 14 14 Liechtenstein n340 18 14 14 United Kingdom n341 21 16 16 Cyprus n342 n/a 16 16 Ireland n343 n/a 17 17 n322 Sexual relations with adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 are an offense if the younger person is tricked or pressured. Id. at 25. n323 Sexual relations with adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 are punishable if the younger person is "sexually innocent" and "morally pure" and if he or she complains to the police. Id. at 21. n324 Uniform age of consent introduced in 1976. Id. at 15. n325 Homosexual age of consent reduced from 21 to 18 in 1978 and to 15 in 1982. Id. at 16. n326 Until 1987, the age of consent was 16 for heterosexuals and lesbians, and 17 for gay men. Id. at 17. n327 Uniform age of consent introduced in 1978. Id. at 26. n328 Homosexual age of consent reduced from 18 in 1985. Id. at 13. n329 Uniform age of consent introduced in 1971. Id. at 22. n330 Uniform age of consent introduced in 1972. Id. at 23. n331 Uniform age of consent introduced in 1852. Id. at 24. n332 In Switzerland, it remains an offense for an adult male to "seduce" any adolescent between the ages of 16 and 20. A government commission has recommended that this section of the penal code be repealed. Id. at 26-27. n333 There is no specific age of consent for any form of sexual orientation. In practice, however, the age of majority is treated as the age of consent. Id. at 22. n334 Homosexuality has never been banned in modern times. Id. at 27. n335 Higher age of consent for homosexuals imposed in 1971 when total prohibition of homosexual acts was ended. Id. at 12. n336 Discriminatory age of consent imposed in 1971. Id. at 16. n337 Homosexual age of consent reduced from 21 to 18 in 1973. The German Democratic Republic maintains a uniform age of consent at 14, which was introduced in 1989. Id. at 17, 27. The GDR's territory became subject to the Convention as part of the new, united Germany in October 1990. See Colitt, Pastor Helps to Forge the Future of a New Germany, Fin. Times, May 12, 1990, at 2. n338 A bill to remove all distinctions between heterosexuality and homosexuality from the penal code is under consideration by the Icelandic parliament and is expected to become law soon. P. Tatchell, supra note 321, at 20. n339 Discriminatory age of consent introduced in 1971. Law reform to equalize the age of consent is currently under consideration. Id. at 22. n340 Total ban on consensual homosexual sodomy lifted in 1988. See Int'l Lesbian & Gay Ass'n, Second ILGA Pink Book: A Global View of Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Oppression 235 (1988). n341 Consensual adult homosexual sodomy decriminalized in 1967, and age of consent fixed at 21 in England and Wales. Decriminalization extended to Scotland in 1980 and Northern Ireland in 1982. P. Tatchell, supra note 321, at 29. n342 The island of Cyprus currently is divided between Greeks and Turks. In the Greek area, all homosexual acts between men are outlawed. Id. at 14. n343 Law Reform Comm'n, Consultation Paper on Child Sexual Abuse 54, 58 (1989). In June, 1990, David Norris, the Irish senator who challenged Ireland's sodomy laws before the European Court of Human Rights, initiated a late-night proposal to repeal the laws after the Senate had refused to consider reforming the law for over a year. Although only two other senators were present -- the minimum number required to take such action -- the law reform was adopted. See World Gay News: Irish Sodomy Law Dies After Parliamentary Maneuver, Au Courant, Sept. 10, 1990, at 20.