Abstract This paper examines the right to family life and how it can conflict with the child’s right to protection against harm. The paper examines how the international community views the family and what rights the family has in international law.  In addition to this, the paper also looks at the different family structure a family can have and it also examine whether there are a universal definition of family. Furthermore, the paper also talks about the children and the rights afforded to them and how the rights has developed through time. The concept of childhood is a much-debated issue. There have been debates on when the childhood begins but also on when it ends and the views of the States differs somewhat. Childhood is a concept that is heavy with different psychological, physical, religious and cultural believes and practices. When the States was working on the Convention on the Rights of the Child they had to try to consolidate the different views on both the beginning and the end of childhood but it proved to be problematic. To say that the childhood began at conception would have made the convention incompatible with the national law that allows abortion and it could therefore risk that some States did not sign the convention. They therefore made a compromise that meant that the States could keep their own definition on the beginning of childhood. The family as well as the well-being of the child is important and this is reflects in international law. This paper therefore also examines the articles in international and regional treaties concerning the family and the protection of the child.  It also examines several cases from the European Court of Human Rights to illustrate how the Court has reasoned in cases where rights of the parents has been in conflict with the children’s rights and best interest. The conclusion drawn from this paper is that no set of rights weigh more than the other. They are both very important and if it is possible, the authorities shall try to balance them with each other. They have to have both what would be best for the child and the parents right to family life in mind. Even if the authorities have to remove a child from the parents care they need to have a reunification of the family as a ultimate goal to work towards.

Families are old organizations. In Asian area, ¡§Domestic Violence Protection Act¡¨ is a new law that shoots up like a new sprout. When tradition meets modern laws; when old emotions and blood relationship meet rational laws, what kind of spark will be generated? And how many new social issues will it bring up? The harms caused by marital violence to a family include physical and mental torture suffered by family members, which might lead to high national and social costs. Owing to the changes in family functions and family structure, marital violence as a controversial issue has been regulated in the legislative body through legislation. However, if there is no limit to the ¡§intervention of laws in domestic disputes¡¨, family problems will be made public just like the ¡§Truman Show¡¨. Without privacy there is no dignity. The universal value of human rights would finally be stripped off. Once the private realm of a family is intervened, it is as if the Pandora¡¦s Box pops open. The basic human rights of family members, such as individual¡¦s privacy, minor children¡¦s right to family harmony, domestic violence victims¡¦ right over body and the right of freedom from fear, and domestic violence offenders¡¦ right to family life, right of migrating freedom, right of personal freedom, and right of property disposal, which has been deprived according to the protective order, as well as human dignity of each family member of the family in dispute and so on will be challenged. Whether the core of family system and family autonomy, or the right to family life, or the systematic protection of family should be precedent to the natural rights of the Constitution? Is it excessively intervened by the Domestic Violence Protection Act? This article discusses the intervention of laws in domestic disputes from the practical and law aspects: What conflicts exist between Domestic Violence Protection Act and domestic violence, and the possibility of reconciliation between them. It is also expected that the implementation of policies is able to protect the basic human rights of all citizens by adhering to the consistent constitutional spirit.

The legal comparison of alternative care of children in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic There is always present a group of children who cannot for various reasons grow up in their biological family. Obligation of the state in such cases is to ensure that children alternative care. The purpose of alternative care is to protect and nurture children in a safe healthy environment and provide suitable conditions for their healthy physical, intellectual, emotional and moral development. The objective of the thesis is to analyze and compare alternative care of children institute in the Czech and the Slovak Republic from the substantive and procedural point of view with intention to evaluate effectiveness of legal regulation, identify basic problems in the practical realization, outline the principles significant for the further development of alternative care and make proposals de lege ferenda. Focus is put on the analysis of differences in national regulations and their critical evaluation. The study takes into account relevant judicature with an emphasis on the reflection of the best interest of the child principle, right of the child to be heard and right to respect for private and family life in the decision-making practice of the courts. Legislation of the Czech and the Slovak Republic is...

Com o crescente número de separações e divórcios verificados nas últimas décadas no Brasil e no mundo assistiu-se, também, a um exponencial aumento nas disputas envolvendo a guarda dos filhos menores e o direito de visitas. Essa situação de grave conflito familiar se mostra solo fértil para o acirramento de ânimos das partes, que frequentemente não são capazes de perceber que a falência do seu relacionamento conjugal em nada altera sua relação parental com os filhos comuns. Nesse cenário, em que as desavenças familiares já chegaram aos umbrais do Judiciário, não raro se verifica a tentativa, notadamente movida por sentimentos de vingança, de se afastar o genitor não-guardião dos seus filhos, através de táticas e manobras geralmente levadas a cabo pelo genitor guardião aptas a efetivar tal distanciamento. A essa conduta se deu o nome de Alienação Parental, tema abordado pelo legislador brasileiro através da Lei 12.318, de 2010, que estabelece a reprovação estatal à conduta alienadora e fornece ao julgador elementos para identificá-la e repreendê-la. O presente trabalho visa, dessa maneira, por meio da análise dos estudos já realizados acerca da Alienação Parental e da Síndrome da Alienação Parental, identificar na conduta alienadora a configuração de verdadeiro abuso moral cometido contra a criança e o adolescente, por atentar contra o seu fundamental direito à convivência familiar com ambos os genitores. / With the increasing number of separations and divorces in recent decades in Brazil and throughout the world there was also an exponential increase of disputes involving custody of the children and visitation rights. This situation of severe family conflict provides fertile ground to the intensification of hostilities between the parties, who often fail to realize that their connubial relationships failure does not change their parental relationship with the mutual children. In this scenario, in which family quarrels have already reached the threshold of the judiciary, one can often see the attempt, notably motivated by feelings of revenge, to separate the non-custodial parent from his (her) children, through tactics and maneuvers usually carried out by the custodial parent that are able to accomplish such an estrangement. This behavior was named Parental Alienation, a subject addressed by the Brazilian act n. 12.318 of 2010, which established the state disapproval of the alienating actions and allowed the judge to identify and admonish them. Therefore, the present work aims, through the analysis of existing studies about Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome, to consider alienating behaviors as a genuine form of moral abuse against children and adolescents, by undermining its fundamental right to family with both parents.

Com o crescente número de separações e divórcios verificados nas últimas décadas no Brasil e no mundo assistiu-se, também, a um exponencial aumento nas disputas envolvendo a guarda dos filhos menores e o direito de visitas. Essa situação de grave conflito familiar se mostra solo fértil para o acirramento de ânimos das partes, que frequentemente não são capazes de perceber que a falência do seu relacionamento conjugal em nada altera sua relação parental com os filhos comuns. Nesse cenário, em que as desavenças familiares já chegaram aos umbrais do Judiciário, não raro se verifica a tentativa, notadamente movida por sentimentos de vingança, de se afastar o genitor não-guardião dos seus filhos, através de táticas e manobras geralmente levadas a cabo pelo genitor guardião aptas a efetivar tal distanciamento. A essa conduta se deu o nome de Alienação Parental, tema abordado pelo legislador brasileiro através da Lei 12.318, de 2010, que estabelece a reprovação estatal à conduta alienadora e fornece ao julgador elementos para identificá-la e repreendê-la. O presente trabalho visa, dessa maneira, por meio da análise dos estudos já realizados acerca da Alienação Parental e da Síndrome da Alienação Parental, identificar na conduta alienadora a configuração de verdadeiro abuso moral cometido contra a criança e o adolescente, por atentar contra o seu fundamental direito à convivência familiar com ambos os genitores. / With the increasing number of separations and divorces in recent decades in Brazil and throughout the world there was also an exponential increase of disputes involving custody of the children and visitation rights. This situation of severe family conflict provides fertile ground to the intensification of hostilities between the parties, who often fail to realize that their connubial relationships failure does not change their parental relationship with the mutual children. In this scenario, in which family quarrels have already reached the threshold of the judiciary, one can often see the attempt, notably motivated by feelings of revenge, to separate the non-custodial parent from his (her) children, through tactics and maneuvers usually carried out by the custodial parent that are able to accomplish such an estrangement. This behavior was named Parental Alienation, a subject addressed by the Brazilian act n. 12.318 of 2010, which established the state disapproval of the alienating actions and allowed the judge to identify and admonish them. Therefore, the present work aims, through the analysis of existing studies about Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome, to consider alienating behaviors as a genuine form of moral abuse against children and adolescents, by undermining its fundamental right to family with both parents.

This study was influenced by the circumstances of children in need of care and protection. I conducted the study through a lens that takes the perspectives of “family life” seriously. Section 28(1)(b) of South Africa’s Constitution provides for the right to family care, parental care, or appropriate alternative care to a child who is removed from family life. This provision prioritises the nurturing and development of children in families. South Africa has a diversity of family models which provide family or parental care to children. Children also face various challenges and difficulties in the family environment, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, exploitation, and other traumatic experiences which make them more vulnerable and in need of care and protection. These circumstances are identified as grounds for mandatory intervention and often influence the decision by the children’s court to remove children. The study demonstrates how family care, parental care, or appropriate alternative care are provided in South Africa’s Children’s Act, enforced by the judiciary, and have evolved in practice. Unfortunately, the Children’s Act does not explicitly provide for families, family care and the responsibility of the state to assist families to enable them to function optimally. Government and stakeholders therefore lack guidance in their engagement with the family to address the plight of children in families or raise the quality of life of the family on a continuous basis. The social worker who conducts investigations into the circumstances of the child who is in need of care and protection, must facilitate the provision of prevention and early intervention services with a view to strengthening the family. Unfortunately, social workers sometimes abuse their powers by removing children without prioritising the support needed to keep them in families. Furthermore, the state’s assistance in supporting families may be challenging due to resource constraints, underspending on the state budget, and delay in the delivery of services. Before the children’s court decides to remove the child into alternative care it must, upon identifying a specific ground for mandatory alternative care intervention, conduct an investigation and hold an inquiry regarding the circumstances of the child. The parent and the child must have access to information and participate in the decision-making process. Once the decision to remove the child is reached, the children’s court can opt for different alternative care options. It is crucial to decide on alternative care of a nature and quality that resembles family life. Such care must enable the child and the parent to mutually enjoy each other’s company, as this is an essential element of family life. Thus, the state must put measures in place to ensure that the child establishes contact and has a continuous relationship with family members in view of possible reunification with the family. Alternative care must also provide permanency planning which must explore the option of reuniting the child with his or her family after removal, or adoption if reunification efforts fail. Although adoption is preferred upon failure of reunification efforts, it is challenged by policy and practice which, if not carefully considered, may impact on the right of the child to family life. South Africa has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and is bound to develop its policies in line with the CRC. It is an issue of concern as to whether the implementation of the Children’s Act goes far enough in meeting CRC standards or complying with the Constitution. Thus, the study is means of comparative research, which includes international standards and foreign jurisdictions, with the view of suggesting improvements for South African child legislation. Recommendations for the best possible options towards refining the Children’s Act are made. The proposed provisions could advance the reform of child and family services and thus make a difference in the lives of children in families. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2013 / Private Law / unrestricted