Avenue de l'Europe
Zaunegger v. Germany 
| 2009
It is a great satisfaction for me that this great suffering and the powerlessness that I have felt for years, now lie behind me.
Horst Zaunegger, reported by the German Press Agency, quoted by Süddeutsche Zeitung
Horst Zaunegger had a daughter. He was not married to the mother. When the couple separated, Horst was refused joint custody of their child. This was because, as the couple had not been married, joint custody could only be granted if the mother agreed to it, or if the child’s well-being was threatened.
Horst applied to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the law amounted to unjustified discrimination and breached his right to family life.
The European court noted that, when a married couple separated in Germany, the father did not require the mother’s permission to be awarded joint custody of children. This meant that the law unfairly discriminated against fathers of children born out of marriage, compared to fathers of children born within marriage – in breach of Horst Zaunegger’s basic rights.
In 2013 the law in Germany was changed so that, if a parent of a child born out of marriage applies for joint custody, this will be granted so long as it is not against the child’s best interests.
When she was four years old, Tabitha Mitunga was held by the Belgian authorities for almost two months – without family, friends, or anybody to look after her. She suffered psychological damage and the European court ruled that her rights had been violated. Her case highlighted the need for better protections for unaccompanied children in Belgium and led to substantial reforms.
For decades, Cypriot law criminalised homosexual relationships between men. Alecos Modinos suffered from strain, apprehension and fear of prosecution due to his relationship with another man. The European court ruled that the criminalisation of Alecos’s sexuality violated his basic rights to a private life. In 1998, Cyprus decriminalised gay relationships.
In February 1992, 25,671 people in Slovenia were automatically stripped of their right to live there. Many people – including Ana Mezga - had their papers taken away, were evicted from their homes, could not work, lost personal possessions or had their families broken apart. The law was changed and a compensation scheme set up after a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights.
Germany
Belgium
Cyprus
Slovenia