Violation of Articles 8 and 14 ECHR by the French Blood Donation Service
GHRTV Author
12.09.2022
Agori Michopoulou
International Justice and Human Rights Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
On the ECtHR’s judgment of 8th of September 2022, France was held accountable for violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to respect for private and family life. According to the application of Laurent Drelon, the French Blood Donation Service (EFS) rejected his request to give blood, because he refused to answer on the preliminary medical interview, on the question whether he had ever had sex with another man. His refusal to answer this question led the EFS to collect data that were based on mere speculation and not on proven factual basis.
Focusing on the Court’s decision it is argued that it was inappropriate to collect personal data that relate to sexual behaviour and orientation only by speculation. The ECtHR held that blood safety could have been achieved by keeping a record of the applicant’s refusal to answer questions relating to his sexuality. In addition, apart from the collection of data, the retention of them by the EFS’s IT tool was counted until 2278, which is above the necessary period of collection. It is worth mentioning that the Court observed, in combination with Article 8, violation of Article 14 ECHR, the prohibition of discrimination. This case was a challenge to the French ban on donations by homosexual men, before the law was changed on previous March under the pressure of some human rights groups.
Sources and Further Reading:
European Court of Human Rights, Judgment Drelon v. France, (2022, September 08). Retrieved on September 12, 2022, from https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#%20.
European Convention on Human Rights. (1950, November 4). Council of European Union. Retrieved on September 12, 2022, from https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf.
French blood donor wins rights case over ‘homo-sexual data’, France24, (2022, September 08). Retrieved on September 12, 2022, from https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220908-french-blood-donor-wins-rights-case-over-homosexual-data.
