Chapter 9 - Conclusions of the Case Law Analysis

Summary

‘The Court reiterates that children are entitled to be consulted and heard on matters affecting them.’

– ECtHR, Petrov and X v. Russia (2018)

Introduction

In Part II of this book, the breadth of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law analysis on child participation has been presented. At the start, the aim of the analysis was disclosed: to see which standards on child participation can be distilled from the ECtHR’s case law within the scope of Articles 8 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This aim has undeniably been achieved as each of the four chapters concluded with a set of standards. These standards strengthen the European human rights framework concerning child participation in family law proceedings. In addition to the standards set, the case law analysis has shown the development of child participation as a topic within the Court’s case law. The comprehensive and systematic analysis, also considering how applicants and governments raise the topic, has provided further substance to these standards. The developments and standards have been explained and the internal alignment between case law has been sought. In this conclusion, the key findings from the chapters included in Part II will be brought together.

The conclusions are based on those drawn in each of the four chapters: (in) sufficient participation ( Chapter 5 ), the weight accorded to the child’s views ( Chapter 6 ), the maturity of the child ( Chapter 7 ) and ‘influence’ on the views of the child ( Chapter 8 ). These four chapters have addressed four key themes with regard to child participation. The first two – (in)sufficient participation and weight accorded to the child’s views – concern the two steps of child participation: the question of whether and how a child can participate, and subsequently how the views expressed are given weight. The latter two themes concern factors which could impact child participation – either in the question of participation itself or in the granting of weight.