A 24912 COUNCIL OF EUROPE EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DECISION OF THE COMMISSION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY of Application No. 660/59 lodged by H K against the Federal Republic of Germany The European Commission of Human Rights, sitting in private on Saturday, end April 1960, under the presidency of Mr. C.H.M. WALDOCK and the following members being present: BERG, FABER, J.C., BEAUFORT, SUSTIR, HAIN, CROSBIE, ERIM, F., SKARPHEDINSSON, A.B. McNULTY, Secretary to the Commission; Having regard to the Application lodged on 25th September 1959 by H K against the Federal Republic of Germany and registered on 11th October 1959, under file No. 660/59; Having regard to the report provided for in Rule 45, paragraph 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission; Having deliberated, A D699 o/s 660/59 -2 fk FACTS Whereas the facts of the case may be summarised as follows: The Applicant is a German citizen born in 1907. A charge against him of violation of Article 175 (homosexual practices) of the German Criminal Code is pending before the District Court (Amtsgericht) of Wanne-Bickel. The Applicant is not apparently concerned with the particular proceedings against himself but asks the Commission to invalidate Article 175 as being a violation of Article 14 of the Convention. He has submitted various newspaper cuttings to illustrate the hardships resulting from convictions under the Article and states that homosexuals should not be blamed for their inclinations which are the result of an inherent physical condition. THIS LAW Whereas, in its decisions on the admissibility of Applications Nos. 104/33, 167/56 and 261/57, the Commission has previously held that the Convention permits a High Contracting Party, in its legislation, to make homosexuality a punishable offence, and that the right to respect for private and family life may, under Article 8 of the Convention, be made subject in a democratic society to interference by a public authority in the interests of health or morals; whereas in this respect it is clear that the provisions of Article 175 of the German Penal Code are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Convention; Whereas, moreover, it should be observed that the Commission has previously held, in its decisions on the admissibility of Applications 54/55 and 261/57, that Article 14 of the Convention, insofar as it mentions discrimination on the grounds of sex, does not prevent a High Contracting Party from making a distinction between the sexes in the measures which it takes for the protection of health and morals in accordance with Article 8, paragraph (2) of the Convention; Whereas, consequently, an examination of the case as it has been submitted does not disclose any prima facie violation of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention, in particular of Articles 3 and 14 thereof; Whereas it follows that the Application is manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 27 paragraph (2) of the Convention; Whereas, it appears from an examination of the documents submitted by the Applicant, that no decision has yet been reached by the Court of First Instance in the criminal proceedings brought against him; whereas, however, the Application being manifestly ill-founded, the Commission has not considered it to be necessary to examine the question whether the Applicant was under an obligation according to the generally recognised rules of international law to exhaust the local remedies at his disposal before submitting the case to the Commission under the Convention, or whether he was relieved of the obligation to do so by reason of the established jurisprudence of the German courts with regard to the application of Article 175 of the German Penal Code; Now therefore the Commission DECLARES THIS APPLICATION INADMISSIBLE Secretary to the President of the Commission Commission (A.B. McNulty) (C.H.M. Waldock)