II Council of Europe
| Date | 01 December 2003 |
| Published date | 01 December 2003 |
| Author | Leo Zwaak,Yves Haeck |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410302100405 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
II COUNCIL OF EUROPE
LEO ZWAAK and YVES HAECK
The case of Hansen vs Turkey concerned an Icelandic woman, who had two
daughters. Her relation with her Turkish husband and father of the girls
broke up and the father moved from the house they shared in Reykjavik. A
few months later, the ex-husband and father went to Turkey with the two
girls for a holiday, with the mother’s consent, during which the applicant
was informed by her ex-husband that her daughters would not be returning
to Iceland. From then on the father refused to communicate with the
applicant and, over the following months, she received no information
about her children. After the Icelandic courts had granted the applicant a
divorce and custody of the children, the applicant lodged a request for
divorce and custody of the children in Turkey. During the proceedings the
children said that they did not want to stay with her. The applicant’s
lawyer maintained, however, that the children were under their father’s
influence and were not giving evidence of their own free will. The Turkish
courts granted custody to the girls’ father as being in their best interests, on
the grounds that they had asked to stay with him and that they had adjusted
to their life with him in Istanbul. Although the applicant was granted access
rights, between March 1992 and August 1998, she saw her daughters only
four times, although she and Turkish enforcement officers visited the
children’s home around 50 times. During that period, the father was fined
three times by the Turkish courts for failing to comply with the court’s access
orders. Before the European Court, the applicant complained under Article
8, saying that the Turkish authorities failed to enforce her right of access to
her children. She also alleged, under Article 14, that she was discriminated
against because she is a Catholic and from Iceland.
In its judgment of 23 September 2003, the European Court first recalled
that proceedings relating to the granting of parental responsibility,
including execution of the decision delivered at the end of them, required
urgent handling, as the passage of time could have irremediable
consequences for relations between the children and the parent who did
not live with them. During the proceedings in this case, lasting six years and
five months, the children had been under immense pressure and had been
exposed to media and public attention. Even in such difficult circumstances,
however, the authorities had not taken any measures to enable the applicant
to gain access to them while the lengthy proceedings were pending. In
particular, they failed to seek the advice of social services or the assistance of
psychologists or child psychiatrists to facilitate the applicant’s reunion with
her daughters or to create a more cooperative atmosphere between her and
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 21/4 (2003) 735
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