Acknowledging the significance of marriages and similar relationships in numerous member states,
Reaffirming the right to sexual privacy previously guaranteed by this Assembly,
Believing that an individual should generally be free to enter into a domestic partnership with others, to raise the children for whom they are responsible in the context of such a partnership, and to dissolve such a partnership if necessary,
Seeking to protect these rights while respecting the sociocultural and religious differences between member states,
The General Assembly,
- Requires member states to permit a legally competent individual to:
- enter into a domestic partnership with other legally competent individuals and thereby share a common domestic life together, with the mutual informed consent of all parties,
- provide for, safeguard, and educate the children for whom the individual is legally responsible, in the context of a domestic partnership, and
- dissolve a domestic partnership to which the individual is a party, regardless of whether the other parties consent to such dissolution;
- Directs member states to provide appropriate assistance to individuals in the pursuit of any of the above, with the understanding that member states are free to treat domestic partnerships as a private contractual affair if they so choose;
- Further requires member states to ensure that, upon the dissolution of a domestic partnership, all parties:
- shall not be subject to disadvantageous treatment by a member state simply by virtue of seeking the dissolution without the consent of the other parties,
- shall not lose legal guardianship of a child simply by virtue of the dissolution, and
- shall receive an equitable portion of shared assets in accordance with the terms of the partnership and relevant law;
- Prohibits member states from engaging in unjust discrimination in the application of the above provisions, including but not limited to disadvantageous treatment on the basis of the race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or legal mutual sexual activity of the parties to the domestic partnership;
- Clarifies that nothing in this resolution shall be interpreted so as to prevent a member state from:
- removing legal guardianship of a child from an individual or enforcing the terms of a child custody agreement when a competent tribunal determines that it would be in the best interests of the child, or
- enforcing lawful restrictions on habitation or movement, such as imprisonment;
- Reserves to member states the right to define, recognize, support, or regulate marriages, domestic partnerships, and similar relationships, to the extent permitted by this and previous World Assembly resolutions;
- Further clarifies that nothing in this resolution prohibits the World Assembly from:
- requiring the recognition of foreign marriages, domestic partnerships, and similar relationships that are otherwise valid in a member state's law,
- regulating the distribution of assets following the dissolution of a marriage, domestic partnership, or similar relationship with international elements, or
- engaging in generally applicable regulation that may affect marriages, domestic partnerships, and similar relationships as a secondary effect, such as regulation on sexual consent, legal guardianship, or contractual agreements or unions in general.
