Non-traditional Family Forms & the International Dimension of Family Life: A Report on the ERA Seminar, ‘Recent Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights in Family Law Matters’

Abstract

Since its conception, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court or ECtHR) has had a central role in enforcing the protection of Human Rights in all the States party to the European Convention of Human Rights (the Convention or ECHR). In doing so the rights protected in the Convention and the interpretation and application of these rights by the Court has had a significant impact on the family law in all these states (47 in total). Family life plays a role in the Convention through various articles. The core article is Article 8 ECHR which provides the right to respect for private and family life. However, the other articles should not be forgotten: Art. 12, protecting the right to marry and found a family, Art. 14, the general antidiscrimination clause to be taken in conjunction with Art. 8 or 12, and Art. 5 of Protocol no. 7, which concerns the equality of spouses in civil law matters. These articles and the Court’s interpretation of them was the object of the Europäische Rechtsakedemie (ERA) Seminar, ‘Recent Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights in Family Law Matters’, which took place in Strasbourg on the 11 and 12 of February 2016. The programme consisted of a visit to the ECtHR to get a glimpse in the kitchen and the sharing of important practical tips for sending an application to the Court. But, more importantly, of speakers who put the spotlight on various family law topics including international child abduction, LGBT rights (lesbian, gay, bisexual and th th