MEDICINE AND LAW

The International Human Rights Law Group filed this legal memorandum with the Romanian Constitutional Court to support a constitutional challenge to Article 200 of the Romanian Criminal Code. The Code sets a maximum five-year prison sentence for engaging in private, consensual homosexual conduct. Romania is the only member States of the Council of Europe to impose criminal penalties on adults who engage in such conduct.

The International Human Rights Law Group filed this legal memorandum with the Romanian Constitutional Court to support a constitutional challenge to Article 200 of the Romanian Criminal Code. The Code sets a maximum five-year prison sentence for engaging in private, consensual homosexual conduct. Romania is the only member States of the Council of Europe to impose criminal penalties on dults who engage in such conduct.

Although several international and regional human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), explicitly recognize a broad right to health, this article points out that these standards offers little real protection to interests in individual and community health, including reproductive and sexual health.