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Providing a Child with a Family, Not a Family with a Child - A Study in the ECtHR Case Law Regarding the Right to Adopt for Homosexual Persons from a Child's Rights Perspective

Bennshagen, Thérèse LU (2020) LAGF03 20201
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
The traditional family as a heterosexual married couple with children is a norm that is increasingly being questioned and other family constellations are getting more common. In this context the relations and families of homosexual persons are being highlighted and prejudices against them are less tolerated. This change of attitude is occurring at different rates around Europe, which renders the task of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) harder since there doesn’t exist a European consensus on the issue. According to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) there is a right to respect for family life. The ECtHR has in many cases taken a stand on the issue of the ambit of Article 8 in regard to homosexual persons,... (More)
The traditional family as a heterosexual married couple with children is a norm that is increasingly being questioned and other family constellations are getting more common. In this context the relations and families of homosexual persons are being highlighted and prejudices against them are less tolerated. This change of attitude is occurring at different rates around Europe, which renders the task of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) harder since there doesn’t exist a European consensus on the issue. According to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) there is a right to respect for family life. The ECtHR has in many cases taken a stand on the issue of the ambit of Article 8 in regard to homosexual persons, e.g. on the issue of adoption. Parallel to this, the ECtHR in 2008 issued a revised version of their Convention on the Adoption of Children, in which the child’s legal position has been reinforced. Furthermore the ECtHR has in many of their cases regarding adoption emphasized that the child’s interests in these cases are paramount.

In this essay I examine the right to adoption, according to the ECHR, for homosexual persons from a child’s interests perspective. Initially I examine what the right to respect for family life, according the ECHR, entails. Then I investigate if there is a general right to adopt and what role the ECtHR gives the child’s interests in those cases. After that I examine whether there is a right to adopt for homosexual persons followed by an account on what role the ECtHR gives the child’s interests in those cases.

A conclusion from this examination is that there neither exists a general right to adopt nor such a right for homosexual persons. Nonetheless a Contracting State to the ECHR can incur obligations when they have exceeded the scope of the articles in the convention. The Contracting State has then a duty not to enforce these in a discriminatory manner. The essay further illustrates that even though the ECtHR has emphasized that the child’s interests are paramount in cases concerning the right to adopt these interests are often given little consideration. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Bilden av den traditionella kärnfamiljen som enbart ett heterosexuellt gift par med barn ifrågasätts allt mer och andra familjekonstellationer blir allt vanligare. I detta kan vi se att homosexuella personers relationer och familjer har lyfts fram mer och mer och tidigare fördomar om dessa tolereras i mindre grad. Denna förändring i attityd sker dock i olika takt runtom i Europa, vilket gör Europadomstolen om de mänskliga rättigheternas uppgift (Europadomstolen) svårare då det saknas en europeisk konsensus i frågan. Enligt artikel 8 i Europarådets konventionen om skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna och de grundläggande friheterna (EKMR) har man en rätt till respekt för familjeliv. Europadomstolen har i flera fall fått ta ställning till... (More)
Bilden av den traditionella kärnfamiljen som enbart ett heterosexuellt gift par med barn ifrågasätts allt mer och andra familjekonstellationer blir allt vanligare. I detta kan vi se att homosexuella personers relationer och familjer har lyfts fram mer och mer och tidigare fördomar om dessa tolereras i mindre grad. Denna förändring i attityd sker dock i olika takt runtom i Europa, vilket gör Europadomstolen om de mänskliga rättigheternas uppgift (Europadomstolen) svårare då det saknas en europeisk konsensus i frågan. Enligt artikel 8 i Europarådets konventionen om skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna och de grundläggande friheterna (EKMR) har man en rätt till respekt för familjeliv. Europadomstolen har i flera fall fått ta ställning till frågan om omfattningen av artikel 8 i relation till homosexuella personer, bland annat när det gäller rätten till adoption. Parallelt med detta gav Europarådet även ut 2008 en omarbetad version av deras konvention om adoption av barn, i vilken man kan se att barnets ställning har skärpts. Dessutom har Europadomstolen i flera fall om adoption framhävt att barnets bästa är av största vikt.

I denna uppsats undersöker jag rätten till adoption, enligt EKMR, för homosexuella personer ur ett barnrättsperspektiv. Jag går först igenom vad rätten till respekt för familjeliv innebär enligt EKMR. Sedan undersöker jag om det finns en allmän rätt till adoption samt vad Europadomstolen säger om barnets bästa i de fallen. Därefter undersöker jag om det finns en rätt för homosexuella personer att adoptera följt av en redogörelse av vad Europadomstolen säger om barnets bästa i de rättsfallen.

Jag kommer i denna uppsats fram till att det varken finns en allmän rätt att adoptera eller en sådan rätt för homosexuella personer. Däremot kan en medlemsstat till EKMR ändå ådra sig skyldigheter i de fall som de valt att ge fler rättigheter än vad konventionen kräver. Medlemsstaten har rätt att ge fler rättigheter men får inte göra detta på ett diskriminerande sätt. Uppsatsen belyser sedan att trots att Europadomstolen har uttryckt att barnets bästa är av största vikt så ges barnet i praktiken ofta en mer undanskymd roll. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bennshagen, Thérèse LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20201
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
The European Court of Human Rights, The European Convention on Human Rights, The rights of homosexual persons, Adoption, The right to respect for family life, The child's interests
language
English
id
9009917
date added to LUP
2020-09-17 13:45:14
date last changed
2020-09-17 13:45:14
@misc{9009917,
  abstract     = {{The traditional family as a heterosexual married couple with children is a norm that is increasingly being questioned and other family constellations are getting more common. In this context the relations and families of homosexual persons are being highlighted and prejudices against them are less tolerated. This change of attitude is occurring at different rates around Europe, which renders the task of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) harder since there doesn’t exist a European consensus on the issue. According to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) there is a right to respect for family life. The ECtHR has in many cases taken a stand on the issue of the ambit of Article 8 in regard to homosexual persons, e.g. on the issue of adoption. Parallel to this, the ECtHR in 2008 issued a revised version of their Convention on the Adoption of Children, in which the child’s legal position has been reinforced. Furthermore the ECtHR has in many of their cases regarding adoption emphasized that the child’s interests in these cases are paramount.

In this essay I examine the right to adoption, according to the ECHR, for homosexual persons from a child’s interests perspective. Initially I examine what the right to respect for family life, according the ECHR, entails. Then I investigate if there is a general right to adopt and what role the ECtHR gives the child’s interests in those cases. After that I examine whether there is a right to adopt for homosexual persons followed by an account on what role the ECtHR gives the child’s interests in those cases.

A conclusion from this examination is that there neither exists a general right to adopt nor such a right for homosexual persons. Nonetheless a Contracting State to the ECHR can incur obligations when they have exceeded the scope of the articles in the convention. The Contracting State has then a duty not to enforce these in a discriminatory manner. The essay further illustrates that even though the ECtHR has emphasized that the child’s interests are paramount in cases concerning the right to adopt these interests are often given little consideration.}},
  author       = {{Bennshagen, Thérèse}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Providing a Child with a Family, Not a Family with a Child - A Study in the ECtHR Case Law Regarding the Right to Adopt for Homosexual Persons from a Child's Rights Perspective}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}