The Impact of the European Court of Human Rights on the Adoption Procedure in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

In numerous cases related to adoption, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ECtHR) emphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to the adoption procedure as well as the best interest of the child, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. The denial of the right to consent to adoption leads to the violation of human rights, which is especially manifested to vulnerable social groups. The ECtHR also determined this type of violation of rights in the “Croatian cases” - X. v. Croatia and A.K. and L. v. Croatia, which dealt with the violation of the rights of persons with mental disabilities, more precisely, parents deprived of legal capacity and the right to parental care. The shortcomings determined by the ECtHR influenced the change of the adoption paradigm in the new Croatian family legislation from 2015. Therefore, the paper highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to the adoption procedure by analyzing the Croatian family legislation and jurisprudence of the ECtHR related to “Croatian cases”. Likewise, newer cases decided by the ECtHR are analyzed, from which guidelines for further improvement of the adoption procedure and the protection of fundamental human rights are derived.

Keywords

• adoption
• persons deprived of legal capacity
• ECtHR
• biological parents
• consent to adoption