| Applicant name | L.B. |
| Applicant type | natural person |
| Number of applicants | 1 |
| Country | Slovakia |
| Application no. | 5541/22 |
| Date | 12/09/2024 |
| Judges | Gilberto Felici, President, Alena Poláčková, Raffaele Sabato |
| Institution | Court |
| Type | Judgment |
| Outcome Art. 8 | violation |
| Reason | Positive obligation |
| Type of privacy | Relational privacy; procedural privacy |
| Keywords | Procedural requirments implicit; |
| Facts of the case | contact child |
| Analysis | The Court notes that the domestic authorities’ task was made difficult by the strained relationships between the parents. However, a lack of cooperation between separated parents is not a circumstance which can by itself exempt the authorities from their obligations under Article 8. For more than two years, the domestic authorities failed to take sufficiently effective action in response to the child’s mother’s obstructive behaviour and failed to reconcile the conflicting interests of the parties concerned. Although she was fined in April 2022 for failing to comply with the interim order and subsequently, in August 2022, charged with the obstruction of the execution of an official decision, such measures on the part of the authorities, in the absence of any previous effective steps to ensure the applicant’s contact with his son, cannot be seen as an adequate response to the urgency of the situation and, moreover, do not appear to have had any real effect or to have been followed up with further coercive measures. Regard being had to the above, the Court concludes that the Slovak authorities failed to take all necessary steps that could reasonably be expected in the given circumstances to ensure effective enjoyment by the applicant of his parental rights or to otherwise facilitate his contact with his son. |
| Other Article violation? | – |
| Damage awarded | that the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months, EUR 9,000 (nine thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage; |
| Documents | Judgment |