Ordo Iuris defends family at OSCE conference

fotolia

Ordo Iuris has long undertaken international activities aimed at protecting the family. These included the Institute's experts' participation in the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting organised in Warsaw by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

This type of event is organised every year. During the last edition, government delegations and representatives of social organizations debated for two weeks about the observance and standards of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. During official sessions, non-governmental organizations had the opportunity to organize accompanying meetings, the so-called side-events.

The Ordo Iuris Institute organized two such meetings, at which international guests were invited. The first one concerned the activities of the Norwegian Children's Office (Barnevernet). The following guests spoke there: Valeriu Ghiletchi, Vice-Chairman of the Moldovan Parliament, author of the report on the activities of Barnevernet, adopted by the Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Jan Aage-Torp, President of the European Apostolic Leaders in Norway, Jerzy Kwaśniewski, President of the Ordo Iuris Institute, Bartosz Zalewski, expert of the Institute, co-author of the report on Barnevernet and Karina Walinowicz, Director of the Ordo Iuris International Law Centre. During the meeting, different aspects of Barnevernet's activities in the context of the Council of Europe standards were presented. The issue of arbitrary interpretation of material reasons justifying the deprivation of parents of the right to care for children and Barnevernet's activity concerning ethnic and religious minorities was discussed.

‘The issues related to the functioning of the Norwegian Barnevernet are extremely topical in the context of the judgment of the Court of Human Rights in the case of Jansen v. Norway at the beginning of September. The Court confirmed some of the concerns expressed by the Council of Europe regarding the organisation of foster custody in the Norwegian legal system and ruled that the Kingdom of Norway has violated the right to respect for family life. The report prepared by Ordo Iuris experts on the issue of unjustified deprivation of parental custody of children will be the first comprehensive study on Barnevernet's activities after the ECtHR's decision’, said Bartosz Zalewski, attorney at law.

Two days later, another presentation of the draft Convention on the Rights of the Family took place, which had already been officially presented in the European Parliament in Brussels. During the side event, devoted to the issues of family protection and effective prevention of domestic violence, foreign guests took part. The first speaker was Karina Walinowicz, Director of the Centre for International Law, who presented the draft Convention. Then, Prof. David Forte, a lecturer in law at Cleveland State University, took the floor. Chris Hull, vice-president of the Center for Security Policy Secure Freedom from the USA, referred to American and European research on domestic violence, confirming that a strong family based on marriage is the most effective protection against domestic violence, which occurs more often, among others, in households based on cohabitation. The Ordo Iuris Institute presented more research on this issue in its brochure. Anton Chromik, a Slovak lawyer, presented arguments about the ineffectiveness and harmfulness of the Istanbul Convention on the example of Slovakia, discussing a social campaign against its ratification, which has not yet taken place in Slovakia. Christian Zeitz of Wiener Akademikerbund discussed actions to defend life and family in Austria.

The Ordo Iuris Institute participated in the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting for the fourth time.

DRAFT TEXT OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE FAMILY (download file)