Litigation in the European Courts
Since 2000, an important part of ILGA-Europe's work has been to provide information about developments in international and comparative human rights law related to sexual orientation to the Council of Europe's European Court of Human Rights, by seeking the permission of the Court to submit written comments on these developments as a third-party intervener in selected cases that could establish a principle applying to all Council of Europe countries (47 as of August 2007).
ILGA-Europe often does so in collaboration with other non-governmental organisations. In 2007, ILGA-Europe participated for the first time in a case in the European Union's European Court of Justice, not through written observations (which were not procedurally possible), but through oral observations at the hearing.
