Avenue de l'Europe
Bianchi v. Switzerland 
| 2006
Article 8 implies the right for a parent to measures aimed at reuniting him or her with the child and the obligation for national authorities to implement these measures
Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, June 2006
When Stefano Bianchi separated from his wife, the courts awarded him custody of the couple’s three-year-old son. However, the mother took the child and fled from Italy to Switzerland. She then refused to say where he was.
Stefano complained that the Swiss authorities were not doing enough to find his son.
When the European court considered the case, Stefano had been unable to see his son for almost two years. The court ruled that the Swiss authorities had taken a passive attitude to locating the child. Even when the mother had come in for an interview, the police did not use that opportunity to locate the boy. The lack of contact between the boy and his father was not in the child’s best interests.
The inaction of the Swiss authorities had violated Stefano's right to family life.
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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.
When Vladimír Zavřel’s wife left the family home, she took the couple’s six-year-old son and stopped Vladimír seeing him. Vladimír got a court order for contact with his boy, but the authorities failed to enforce it. The European court ruled that this had violated the right to family life. Contact was re-established and the law was changed to prevent similar situations happening again.
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.
Switzerland
Belgium
Czechia
Slovenia