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Civil unions should not be reserved for heterosexual couples, the European Court of Human Rights （ECHR） ruled Thursday, condemning Greece for creating a "life partner" legal category that excludes gays.
歐洲人權法院（ECHR）週四判決，公民結合不應為異性戀伴侶保留，並譴責希臘建立排除同性戀者的「終身伴侶」法律範疇。
Judges in Strasbourg said that authorities in Orthodox Christian Greece had not offered "convincing and weighty reasons capable of justifying the exclusion of same-sex couples" when passing a 2008 law.
史特拉斯堡的法官指出，基督正教的希臘當局在2008年通過該法時，沒有提供「可合理化排除同性伴侶的令人信服、有力的理由」。
Grigoris Vallianatos and Nikolaos Mylonas, two Greek gay men, alleged with three other couples that the law infringed their right to respect for their private and family life, a clause in the European Convention on Human Rights, and amounted to unjustified discrimination.
2名希臘男同志瓦利安納托斯及麥隆納斯，以及其他3對伴侶宣稱，該法侵犯歐洲人權公約條款保障的尊重其私人與家庭生活之權利，等同於不合理的歧視。
The court noted that European states have no obligation to provide some form of legal recognition for gay relationships. But of the 19 states which authorise some form of registered partnership other than marriage, Lithuania and Greece "are the only ones to reserve it exclusively for couples of the opposite sex," the Court said.
法院指出，歐盟會員國沒有義務提供某種認同同性戀關係的法律形式。不過，當中有19國除婚姻外，也批准某種登記伴侶形式，立陶宛與希臘「是唯一將其專門保留給異性伴侶的會員國。」該法院說。
Fewer than half of the 47 signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights, of which the Court is the judicial enforcer, have introduced such alternatives to marriage.
在47個歐洲人權公約簽署國中，不到半數已採行這類婚姻替代制度；人權法院是公約的執法機構。
The Court said that as the two men had found themselves in a "similar situation" to heterosexual couples offered the protection of civil partnerships, they too deserved legal protection.（AFP）
法院表示，異性伴侶受公民伴侶關係保障，而當2名男子發現自己處於「類似」異性伴侶的狀態時，也應獲得法律保障。（法新社）
新聞辭典
reserve︰動詞，保留、留存、儲備。例句︰Reserve your strength for the climb.（留點力氣準備攀登吧。）
unjustified︰形容詞，未被證明是正當（合理）的、無法解釋的。例句︰His pessimism was unjustified.（他的悲觀沒有根據。）
authorise︰動詞，授權、批准、認可。例句︰He would on no account authorise in his child the smallest degree of arrogance.（他絕不容許他的孩子有半點傲氣。）
本文引用至 自由時報電子報 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/
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