Private Law Child Disputes
2020 ◽
pp. 255-303
Keyword(s):
One of the most prolific areas of jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights relates to private law disputes concerning children: the extent of parental authority; custody and residence; access and contact; parental child abduction; as well as the procedural rules that accompany them. This chapter explores how these have come before the Court, and the ways in which children’s rights have been conceptualised, both in the applications themselves and in the Court’s decision-making. It also examines the rules of standing to bring a case on behalf of a child, as well as the right to represent the child before the Court, and argues that the current rules provide inadequate protection for the rights of children.