The Court considered that criminalisation of homosexual acts was not sufficient to render return
contrary to the Convention. The Court found, however, that the Swiss authorities had failed to
adequately assess the risk of ill-treatment for the first applicant as a homosexual person in the
Gambia and the availability of State protection against ill-treatment from non-State actors. Several
independent authorities noted that the Gambian authorities were unwilling to provide protection
for LGBTI people.
The case concerned a transgender man from Iran who had obtained asylum in Hungary but could not
legally change his gender and name in that country.
The Court noted that the domestic system for gender recognition had excluded the applicant simply
because he did not have a birth certificate from Hungary, a change in the birth register being the
way name and gender changes were legally recognised.
The Court concluded that a fair balance had not been struck between the public interest and the
applicant’s right to respect for his private life owing to the refusal to give him access to the legal
gender recognition procedure.
