The [[right to privacy]] is a protected freedom under the UDHR,{{sfn|Universal Declaration of Human Rights|1948 |loc=Article 12}} and the ICCPR<ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm name="International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] 1976">{{webarchivecite web |title=International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights |website=United Nations Treaty Collection |date=1976-03-23 |url=https://webtreaties.archiveun.org/webPages/20080705115024/http://www2showDetails.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htmaspx?objid=0800000280004bf5&clang=_en |dateref=2008-07-05{{sfnref |International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights |1976}}, |access-date=2023-09-17 |at=Article 17.}}</ref> which reflects the "widespread, if not universal, human need to pursue certain activities within an intimate sphere, free of outside interference. The possibility to do so is fundamental to personhood."<ref name="Heinze 1995 pp. 172–173">{{cite book |last=Heinze |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Heinze |chapter=10.1 Aspects of the Right |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sexualorientatio0000hein/page/172/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=Sexual Orientation: a Human Right |publisher=Kluwer Law International |publication-place=Dordrecht Boston |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-7923-3018-9 |oclc=1392112413 |page=172–173 |url=https://archive.org/details/sexualorientatio0000hein |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Intimate relationships, whether between two people of the same sex or of different sexes, are among those activities that are subject to a right of privacy.
It has been successfully argued in a number of cases that criminalization of homosexual relationships is an interference with the right to privacy, including decisions in the [[European Court of Human Rights]] and the UNHRC.<ref>''Dudgeon v UK'' A 45 (1981); (1982) 4 EHRR 149; ''Norris v Ireland'' A 142 (1988); (1988) 13 EHRR 186; ''Toonen v Australia'' (488/1992), CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992 (1994); 1-3 IHRR 97 (1994).</ref>
