Father was discriminated against by imposition of paternity judgment limiting his parental responsibility
EUROPE: DOMESTIC LAW
European Court of Human Rights, judgment, 30 June 2022, Paparrigopoulos v. Greece (Application no. 61657/16).
«The Court observed that domestic law would not at the material time have allowed the applicant to exercise parental responsibility even where doing so would have been in the child’s best interests. Nor had it been possible for him to obtain a court order to overcome the mother’s withholding of consent to shared parental responsibility, even though she had not denied his parentage of the child. In the Court’s view, the Government had not adequately explained why it had been necessary, at the material time, for domestic law to prescribe such a difference in treatment between the fathers and mothers of children born out of wedlock and of children born in wedlock. The Court held that there was no reasonable relationship of proportionality between the preclusion of the applicant’s exercise of parental responsibility and the aim pursued, which had been to protect the best interests of children born out of wedlock.
The Court noted that the proceedings had spanned nine years and four months and that the arguments put forward by the Government could not account for such a delay. Having regard to the positive obligation to exercise exceptional diligence in such cases, the Court held that the lapse of time could not be regarded as reasonable.»
Direct link to the judgment (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
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The Court noted that the proceedings had spanned nine years and four months and that the arguments put forward by the Government could not account for such a delay. Having regard to the positive obligation to exercise exceptional diligence in such cases, the Court held that the lapse of time could not be regarded as reasonable.»
Direct link to the judgment (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Accès direct au communiqué de presse (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Direct link to the press release (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Gender Law Newsletter 2022#03, 01.09.2022