Table Of ContentEuropeans and their rights
Child rights in Europe
Convergence and divergence
in judicial protection
Geraldine Van Bueren
Barrister and Professor of International Human Rights Law,
Queen Mary, University of London, and
Visiting Fellow, Kellogg College, Oxford
Council of Europe Publishing
French version:
Les droits des enfants en Europe
ISBN 978-92-871-6299-1
The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the author and
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Printed in Belgium
“Europeans and their rights” series
Are there common European rights? This series of publications aims to answer
this question through a comparative study of the protection given by consti-
tutions and conventions to the civil and political rights guaranteed by the
European Convention on Human Rights.
Each volume studies a specifi c individual right based on practical examples
and relevant decisions by European constitutional courts or the European
Court of Human Rights.
The series uses information obtained from the Codices database, an electronic
publication by the European Commission for Democracy through Law (usually
called the Venice Commission). The Codices database (www.codices.coe.int)
contains periodic reports of the case law of the constitutional courts of the
47 Council of Europe member states and courts of equivalent jurisdiction in
Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights (Council of Europe)
and the Court of Justice of the European Communities (European Union).
In both the Codices database and this series of publications, decisions are
presented in the following way:
1. Identifi cation
a). country or organisation
b). name of the court
c). chamber or division (if any)
d). date of the decision
e). number of the decision or case
f). title (if any)
g). offi cial publication
h). non-offi cial publications
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Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................... 9
Preface by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio,
Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe ............... 11
Celebrating children’s rights:
a Council of Europe wish ................................................. 11
Introduction ................................................................................ 13
Chapter 1 – The fundamental legal principles
of interpretation found in European constitutional
and international case law .................................... 15
Section 1 – The inter-relationship between the European
Convention on Human Rights and the regional
and global treaties on children’s rights ................. 15
Limitations upon convergence – The approach
of the European Court of Human Rights to
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 ..... 18
The approach of the European Court of Human Rights
to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights 1966 ................................................. 23
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Child rights in Europe
The approach of the European Court of Human Rights
to the revised European Social Charter 1996 ................. 25
The European Convention on the Exercise
of Children’s Rights 1996 ................................................. 26
The European Union and children’s rights ..................... 27
Supportive convergence – The approach of the European
Court of Human Rights to private international
law treaties concerning children’s rights ........................ 28
Section 2 – The fundamental principles underpinning
child rights cases in Europe .................................... 30
Pushing and pulling in different directions –
The best interests of the child and the margin
of appreciation of states ................................................. 30
The evolving capacities of the child ............................... 37
The principle of non-discrimination ............................... 39
Chapter 2 – The defi nition of childhood in Europe ................. 51
Section 1 – Convergent and divergent approaches
to the beginning of childhood ............................... 51
Section 2 – Minimum ages and the end of childhood ............. 57
Chapter 3 – Child participation and autonomy ....................... 63
Section 1 – The right to respect for private life ....................... 63
Identity and respect for the child’s private life .............. 64
Physical integrity and respect
for the child’s private life ................................................ 74
Section 2 – The right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion .......................................... 77
The right of a child to choose a religion ........................ 77
Education in conformity with religious
and other beliefs .............................................................. 80
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Contents
Section 3 – The right to freedom of expression ...................... 81
Section 4 – T he right to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association ....................................................... 86
Children and the right to freedom
of peaceful assembly ....................................................... 86
Children and the right to freedom of association ......... 88
Section 5 – The right to freedom of movement ...................... 89
Chapter 4 – Child protection ..................................................... 93
Section 1 – The right to liberty and security ............................ 93
Children detained on remand ......................................... 94
Detention for the purposes
of educational supervision .............................................. 95
Child deprivation of liberty – Post conviction ................ 100
Section 2 – The right to a fair trial ............................................ 104
The minimum age of criminal responsibility .................. 106
The right of a child to a fair trial
in criminal proceedings ................................................... 107
Presumption of innocence .............................................. 112
Diversions ......................................................................... 113
The right of a child to a fair trial in civil proceedings ... 113
Section 3 – The right to respect for family life ........................ 117
The defi nition and ambit of family life .......................... 118
The child, immigration, refugee status
and family life .................................................................. 123
Adoption, fostering and family life ................................ 126
Children and issues of access and custody ...................... 130
Placement of children in care ......................................... 134
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Child rights in Europe
Chapter 5 – Child provision rights ............................................ 145
Section l – The right to an effective remedy ............................ 145
Section 2 – The right to education ............................................ 151
The child, education and resources ................................ 151
The quality of education ................................................. 156
Education in conformity with religious
and philosophical convictions ......................................... 158
Educational dress ............................................................. 164
Chapter 6 – Prevention rights and children ............................. 167
Section 1 – T he prohibition on torture, inhuman
and degrading treatment and punishment .......... 167
Judicial physical punishment and children ..................... 169
The relationship between Articles 3, 8 and 13 .............. 171
State responsibility for treatment and punishment
in the private sphere ....................................................... 173
Educational physical punishment and children ............. 174
Converging – The trend within the Council of Europe
towards prohibiting all forms of child physical
punishment ...................................................................... 176
Child deprivation of liberty and the prohibition
of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment
and punishment ............................................................... 180
Child welfare and Article 3 ............................................. 183
Section 2 – The prohibition on slavery and forced labour ...... 186
Contemporary child servitude ......................................... 187
Children and light work .................................................. 193
Child military service ........................................................ 195
Chapter 7 – Convergence and divergence: an overview ........ 197
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Caroline Martin and Véronique Riff of the Council
of Europe for their assistance and support for access to the Codices
of the Venice Commission. I also wish to thank my researchers:
Jewel Amoah, Kari Gerstheimer, Annabelle Bodmer-Roy and Sejal
Parmar, with whom it has been a pleasure to work on national
Constitutional and Supreme Court judgments. Finally, I wish to
thank my husband James for his continuing love, support and
humour.
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