EU court rejects 'gay tests' for asylum seekers

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday ruled that sexual orientation tests can not be used to determine asylum seekers applications.

The ruling effectively bans the testing of sexual orientation to determine the right to asylum, declaring it to be "disproportionate" and an invasion of "the most intimate aspects" of life, the BBC reported.

The ECJ's ruling is binding in all 28 EU states. The case relates to a Nigerian man who submitted an asylum application in Hungary in April 2015.

He said he feared persecution in Nigeria for being gay. The Nigerian's claim was rejected after a psychologist's report failed to confirm his homosexuality.

A court in Szeged, Hungary, must now reconsider his case in light of the ECJ ruling.

Hundreds of homosexuals fearing persecution in Africa, the Middle East and Chechnya have sought asylum in the EU, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reported.

Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Botswana.

In December 2014 the ECJ ruled on a similar case in the Netherlands and found that sexuality tests violated asylum seekers' human rights.

In the new ruling, the ECJ said "certain forms of expert reports may prove useful" in such cases, but added that such reports interfered with a person's privacy.

In 2013, the court ruled that asylum could be granted in cases where people were actually jailed for homosexuality in their home country.

--IANS

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