Ban on conversion practices in the European Union

Key points

The EESC:

• strongly condemns all forms of conversion practices aimed at changing, suppressing or erasing a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, and considers them a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

• recalls that discrimination, violence and torture directed against LGBTIQ+ persons within the EU are incompatible with the EU fundamental rights and values;

• calls on the European Commission to propose a legally binding EU-wide ban on conversion practices, covering both the conduct and the advertisement of such activities, by including conversion practices as ‘EU crimes’ and to recognise them as hate crimes to ensure a uniform level of protection across the EU;

• urges that the ban is comprehensive and precisely defined, applies to children and adults alike, covers all public and private actors (professional and non-professional), and ensures that survivors are never subject to criminal or civil liability;

• insists that the ban includes effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties reflecting the serious harm caused by conversion practices;

• calls for the explicit inclusion of sex characteristics within the scope of the ban in order to protect intersex individuals from non-therapeutic and non-consensual interventions by forcing binary gender alignment;

• recommends strong implementation measures as part of the LGBTIQ+ Equality Strategy 2026–2030. These should include annual monitoring carried out in consultation with organised civil society, dedicated funding for professional training and equality organisations, and EU-supported education and public awareness initiatives, which are essential for identifying and eliminating such practices.