On 7 March, the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) found the French authorities in breach of Article 8 (right to respect for family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in Raw and Others v France. The case concerned the applicant, Mrs Raw and her two children ‘A’ and ‘C’.
The French Court held in February 2009 and again on appeal in April 2009 that the children should be returned to the applicant Mrs Raw in the UK. However the order remained unenforced. In June 2009 the French authorities organised a meeting between the children and their mother where the children expressed their wishes to remain in France.
The Strasbourg Court found France to have violated the ECHR for not taking necessary measures to facilitate the return of children who were wrongfully retained in France by their father. The Court heard evidence on the children’s expressed wishes at the failed reunion in June 2009 and found that although the children’s opinions were to be taken into account, their objections were not necessarily sufficient to prevent their return.
It was established that in cases involving child abduction, when national Courts have ordered the return of the children to their habitual residence, the authorities must take all the necessary steps to carry out that order. This may include coercive measures against the parent who has abducted the children. The judgment further confirmed that the parent who did not abduct the children could act on behalf of the children who were applicants in the case.
The AIRE (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) Centre represented Mrs Raw and the children. They have stated that they hope this judgment contributes to the enforcement of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction as well as the Brussels II bis Regulation.
Click here to read the judgment (only available in French).