02-03-2026 15:00
Public Hearing on European Citizens’ Initiative to Ban Conversion Practices

The hearing was organised by the European Parliament in accordance with Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 on the European Citizens' Initiative, which provides citizens with a formal mechanism to bring policy proposals directly to EU institutions.

Citizens call for EU-wide legal action

Signatories of the ECI were urging the European Commission to propose binding legislation banning conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ people across the European Union. These practices are defined as interventions aimed at changing, repressing, or suppressing a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

According to the initiative's organisers, such practices are discriminatory, degrading, harmful, and fraudulent. The United Nations has qualified them as a form of torture, and a growing number of countries worldwide have already introduced bans.

Emphasising the EU's responsibility to protect fundamental rights, the ECI calls on the Commission to:

• Propose a directive adding conversion practices to the list of EU crimes (euro-crimes), and/or amend the ongoing Equality Directive to explicitly ban these practices;
• Enforce a non-binding resolution calling for a widespread ban across the EU;
• Amend the Victims' Rights Directive to establish minimum standards for the rights, support, and protection of victims of conversion practices;
• Encourage all Member States to introduce national bans or review existing legislation.