European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib on Wednesday called on EU member states to immediately ban “barbaric” conversion practices targeting LGBTIQ+ people, issuing a non-binding recommendation to be formally presented in 2026. Only eight of 27 member states — Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, Spain, and Portugal — currently have bans. The recommendation, prompted by a European Citizens’ Initiative exceeding one million signatures, stops short of an EU-wide ban due to a lack of member state unanimity. Lahbib described the practices, which include electroshock, medication, and exorcism, as “hidden violence” rooted in falsehood.
In-Depth:
European Union countries must take immediate action to finish “barbaric” conversion practices tarreceiveing LGBTIQ+ people, Hadja Lahbib, the European Commissioner for Equality, stated on Wednesday as she announced a non-binding recommfinishation.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
“Conversion practices are built on a lie. The lie that LGBTIQ+ people required to be repaired,” Lahbib stated on Wednesday. “You cannot torture away a person’s identity.”
The recommfinishation, she added, sfinishs a “powerful signal that these practices are harmful but also must be illegal”, and will cover actions to increase societal awareness, assist victims seek legal action, and strengthen medical and psychological support.
It will be formally presented next year.
Wednesday’s announcement falls short of the EU-wide ban that advocates had called on the Commission to present as part of a citizens’ initiative. Asked why the executive had not gone as far, Lahbib admitted a lack of unanimity among member states.
Article 19 of the EU treaties compels unanimity to tackle discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
“The European Commission is sfinishing a very clear message without amlargeuity to every member state in this union: ban conversion practices now,” Lahbib stated.
“Member states have an essential role to play becaapply this largely falls under their responsibility,” she added, placing the burden on capitals.
As of today, eight of 27 member states – Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, Spain and Portugal – have bans in place. The laws are not identical. For instance, they foresee various degrees of financial penalties and prison sentences.
“They have revealn it can be done,” Lahbib went on, praising the eight countries. “We are building on that momentum, calling on the rest to follow.”
Conversion practices encompass interventions, such as psychotherapy, medication, electroshock and exorcism, aimed at altering a person’s sexual orientation, gfinisher identity or gfinisher expression. Widely dismissed as pseudo-science, they are performed by private and public health providers, faith-based organisations, state agents and family members, and often involve abapply, violence and humiliation.
A 2020 report finishorsed by the United Nations warned that conversion practices can result in “long-lasting psychological and physical damage” and urged countries around the world to introduce bans at the national level, including restrictions on public funding and advertising, penalties for non-compliance and reparations to victims.
In January 2024, an NGO named ACT registered a European Citizens’ Initiative questioning the Commission to propose an EU-wide prohibition on conversion practices by either expanding the list of euro-crimes or amfinishing the Equal Treatment Directive, which has been stuck since 2008 due to the lack of unanimity that Lahbib evoked.
The initiative surpassed the threshold of one million signatures from at least seven member states, compelling the Commission to analyse it and issue an official response, which Lahbib delivered on Wednesday.
“These practices are shameful and unacceptable,” Lahbib stated. “It’s not about healing or assisting someone. No, it’s about violence. A hidden violence.”
Almost a quarter of LGBTIQ+ citizens in the EU have been subjected to some form of conversion practices, according to the bloc’s Fundamental Rights Agency, with trans women and men exposed the most.
In some cases, the treatment was administered with the adult’s consent. The citizens’ initiative envisioned an EU-wide ban where consent would be deemed “irrelevant.”
