Women
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law prohibits rape of a person, regardless of gender, including spousal rape, and the government enforced the law effectively. Penalties for violations range from five to 10 years’ imprisonment. The law prohibits domestic violence, and the government effectively enforced the law. The law is gender neutral and provides for the removal of abusers from their residences for a 14-day period that can be extended once for an additional three months upon request of the survivor. Penalties may include fines and imprisonment. Police are required to investigate if NGOs report having been approached by an individual for assistance in cases involving domestic violence.
According to the Report of the Ministry of Justice, published on July 6, 2022, the Ministry found 48 cases of Sexual abuse, 14 cases of sexual assault, five cases of Sexual harassment, and 59 cases of rape. Police also intervened 917 times in domestic violence situations, and prosecutors authorized 249 evictions of the abuser from the home because of these incidents, which represent a decrease of 2.76 percent and 10.43 percent, respectively, over the same period in the previous year. For example, on September 11, a man assaulted his wife before attacking the police. The police subdued and arrested the individual. The individual was arraigned in court.
The government funded organizations that provided shelter, counseling, psychosocial assistance, and hotlines. The government provided financial assistance to victims of domestic violence.
The Ministry of Equality between Women and Men operated a prevention website to raise awareness against the different types of gender-based violence, including psychological, sexual, and domestic violence, and provided survivors with telephone numbers available for assistance services as well as contact information for police.
Sexual Harassment:The law prohibits gender-based sexual harassment and requires employers to protect employees from such harassment. The law considers an employer’s failure to take measures to protect employees from sexual harassment as a breach of contract, and an affected employee is entitled to paid leave until the situation is rectified. According to the latest 2021 annual report published on May 17, the Court for Inspection of Labor and Mines (ITM) conducted 57 investigations for harassment, but the Labor Inspection Court received no cases of sexual harassment in the workplace.
In its 2021 report to parliament and the government, the Center for Equal Treatment (CET) again noted that the law does not give the ITM the means to punish perpetrators of sexual harassment, even though the court is responsible for applying provisions against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Reproductive Rights: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities. The government provided access to sexual and reproductive health services for survivors of sexual violence. Emergency contraception is available as part of the clinical management of rape.
Discrimination: The law provides for the same legal status and rights regardless of gender. The government enforced the law effectively. According to the 2021 annual report by the CET published May 3, the center reported handling 43 cases of potential gender-based discrimination.
Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination
The law provides for equal treatment and prohibits any form of discrimination, direct or indirect, based on religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity. The scope of the law covers places of work, school, and the public sphere.
The CET recorded 60 cases of alleged discrimination involving race or ethnicity in its 2021 report.
Children
Birth Registration: Citizenship is governed by the principle of descent, according to which a father or mother who is a citizen automatically conveys citizenship to offspring at birth. The law allows for citizenship via naturalization and allows dual citizenship. Citizenship for minor children is automatically conveyed when a parent naturalizes. During the year, there were no birth registrations denied on a discriminatory basis.
Child Abuse: The law prohibits child abuse. Authorities enforced the law. Penalties for child abuse range from one to five years’ imprisonment and fines. Three separate hotlines were available to assist children who were victims of domestic abuse.
Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The minimum legal age for marriage is 18 but can be waived by a guardianship judge.
Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibits the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the sale of children, the offering or procuring of a child for commercial sexual exploitation, and practices related to child pornography. Authorities enforced the law, and cases were rare. Penalties for trafficking, including sex trafficking, of children range from 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment and fines. The law provides that a client that committed a commercial sex act with a minor can be sentenced to one to five years of imprisonment, five to 10 years if the minor was younger than age 16, and 10 to 15 years if the minor was younger than age 11, plus fines.
The minimum legal age for consensual sex is 16.
Antisemitism
The Jewish community numbered approximately 1,500 persons. There were isolated cases of antisemitic content on the internet.
The law provides for punishment of antisemitic statements and Holocaust denial; the government generally enforced the law when notified. Jewish groups reported antisemitic statements and attitudes online, especially in association with statements related to the government of Israel and the Holocaust.
On June 12, the NGO Research and Information on Anti-Semitism in Luxembourg published its report for 2021. The report described 80 incidents of antisemitism in the country; most incidents occurred on social media. Persons spreading disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic also promoted conspiracy theories regarding antisemitism. The report emphasized that social media posts often revolved around Judeo/Masonic conspiracy theories.
Trafficking in Persons
See the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/.
Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics
Criminalization: Same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults is not criminalized.
Violence against LGBTQI+ Persons: The Grand Ducal Police or other government employees are not known to have incited, perpetrated, condoned, or tolerated violence against LGBTQI+ individuals or those reporting such abuses. In 2006, the government created the CET to independently promote, analyze, and monitor equal treatment within the country. In its latest annual report for 2021, published on May 3, 2022, the CET reported that it received 245 complaints of discrimination within Luxembourg, nine of the cases were due to the sexual orientation of the victim and 43 because of gender.
A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Luxembourg from September 19 to 23, 2022, as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. Following this visit, ECRI will publish a report in 2023 in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country.
Discrimination: The law prohibits all forms of discrimination by state and non-state actors based on sexual orientation or gender identity and the government generally enforced the law.
The CET’s 2021 report stated it handled nine cases of potential discrimination linked to sexual orientation.
An Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report from 2020 explains that since 2015, Luxembourg same-sex couples are treated on an equal footing relative to different-sex couples concerning access to civil marriage and adoption, although they are not fully entitled to the same rights regarding access to assisted reproductive technology. Contrary to the male partner of a woman who procreates through medically assisted insemination or in vitro fertilization, however, the same-sex partner of a parent who gives birth through these techniques is not automatically recognized as the second legal parent.
The president of Rosa Letzebuerg, a local prolesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTQI+) association, noted that gay and bisexual men are not prohibited from blood donation, but are required to abstain from sexual activity for 12 months before being eligible to donate blood.
Availability of Legal Gender Recognition: Legal gender recognition via self-determination has been available since 2018. Luxembourg is one of 15 OECD countries where legal gender recognition is not conditioned on medical requirements. Since the Gender Recognition Act that came into force in 2018, failure of a transgender person to undergo sterilization, sex-reassignment treatment or surgery, or a psychiatric diagnosis cannot justify refusal to change their gender marker in the civil registry. Additionally, in 2018, Luxembourg launched a nationwide awareness raising campaign called “Female? Male? Intersex? Let’s Be Open Minded” that aims to promote acceptance of intersex persons and, hence, reduce social pressure to categorize intersex babies as either female or male.
Involuntary or Coercive Medical or Psychological Practices Specifically Targeting LGBTQI+ Individuals: So-called conversion therapy practices specifically targeting LGBTQI+ individuals are not banned.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, or mental disabilities. The government largely enforced these provisions. The law requires all new government-owned buildings and buildings undergoing renovation to be accessible to persons with disabilities. The parliament voted on a new accessibility law in January, but it will not come into force until July 2023. The accessibility of public transportation outside the capital was limited. The law recognizes German sign language, allowing deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to use both the language and a state-paid interpreter in their communications with government.
In its 2021 report, the CET wrote that it handled 48 cases of potential discrimination related to disability. Most of the cases concerned access to the job market and housing.
The education system allows children with disabilities to attend their local schools with their peers without disabilities. Parents, however, can decide to place their children in segregated classes. According to a representative of InfoHandicap, most children with disabilities attended segregated classes due to the lack of trained teachers to respond to the children’s needs in mainstream schools. The representative further noted that attending school in a segregated classroom affects a child’s chances of employment or pursuing higher education, because segregated classes do not issue diplomas. A representative of the Ministry of Education noted the ministry increased financial resources and trained personnel to allow a maximum number of children with disabilities to attend their local schools with peers without disabilities.
The law permits persons with mental disabilities to be placed under legal guardianship. Persons under guardianship lose the right to vote.