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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-18 |
2 December 2021 |
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1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)
H46-18 Tonello (Shaw group) v. Hungary (Application No. 46524/14) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that these cases concern violations of the applicants’ right to respect for their family life on account of the authorities’ failure to effectively address the issues arising from their children’s wrongful removals by the applicants’ former spouses or partners (international child abductions);
As regards urgent individual measures in Tonello
2. expressed their utmost concern at the fact that almost ten years after her wrongful removal from Italy to Hungary, the child’s whereabouts remain unknown, given in particular that no information has been submitted to rebut the presumption that the child has never attended school although she is already ten years old;
3. noting anew the significant challenges the authorities are confronted with in the context of cases where the abducting parent’s aim is to remain in hiding, strongly urged them to make every possible effort to provide to the Committee information on all the issues mentioned below that corresponds, in frequency and quality, to what is expected from a respondent State in a case requiring urgent individual measures;
As to the legal framework for the authorities’ investigative action
4. regretted that, despite the Committee’s explicit call, the authorities have so far failed to identify the outstanding factual and legal questions under this head, which makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the action taken;
5. in this respect, strongly reiterated their call on the authorities to provide clear information on: a) the scope of action they may undertake in the course of their search efforts, and b) a concrete timeline of the legal measures taken against the mother, K.S. or with a view to locating the child; strongly urged the authorities to submit a translated copy of the Mezőtúr District Court judgment of April 2017, which acquitted K.S., of unidentified charges, as well as information on K.S’ compliance with the criminal judgment which convicted her, in 2020, for changing the custody of a minor, and invited the authorities to provide information on whether her potential criminal or administrative liability has been re-examined in light of the unrebutted presumption that the child has never attended school, although she has in the meantime attained schooling age;
As to the authorities’ search efforts
6. noting that no reply has been provided to the specific questions that remain open as regards the authorities’ conclusions in respect of crucial aspects of the search, including as to the credibility of the child’s paediatrician, exhorted the authorities to continue exploring all possible investigative avenues, while placing particular emphasis on those that appear more capable of yielding results; furthermore reiterated their firm invitation to the authorities to consider assigning the search or its supervision to the highest police authority possible;
As to the authorities’ cooperation with their Italian counterparts
7. noted with regret that the establishment of a joint investigative group is no longer possible since criminal proceedings are no longer pending against K.S. in Hungary and exhorted the authorities anew to present concrete proposals on possible ways to overcome this impasse and effectively cooperate with the Italian authorities, and to explain why it has so far been impossible to make any progress in meeting the Italian authorities’ requests for judicial assistance, strongly reiterating that general measures might also be required to this end;
Other outstanding matters
8. exhorted the authorities to provide information which clearly elucidates all other developments in this case, including on the reported: a) application for parental authority lodged by K.S. with the Italian courts, b) contacts between INTERPOL and K.S.’s lawyer with a view to reaching an agreement, and c) K.S.’s conviction, in 2021, by the Italian courts, together with the authorities’ assessment on how this development potentially affects their own investigative actions; in the light of the information that K.S. is apparently represented by a lawyer, furthermore strongly urged the authorities to provide information on the measures taken to explore whether an agreement between the applicant and K.S. could be achieved through mediation (other than criminal mediation, which appears to no longer be an option);
As regards the other cases
9. noted that the reunification of the applicant in Shaw with his child and the re-establishment of regular contacts of the applicant in Cavani with his children put an end to the violations at issue and that the just satisfaction awarded to them was paid in time; therefore decided to close the supervision of the individual measures question in Shaw and to end their supervision in Cavani, without prejudice to the continuing need for the adoption of general measures;
10. invited the authorities to submit information on the current situation of the applicant’s child in Edina Tóth;
As regards general measures
11. deeply regretted that, more than ten years after the first case of this group became final, the authorities have still provided no information on specific measures envisaged to address the complex problems arising in the context of international child abductions, despite the Committee’s repeated calls in this respect and the long-standing failure to achieve tangible results in Tonello;
12. therefore strongly urged the authorities to submit without further delay an Action Plan for the whole group, providing information on their overall strategy with a view to tackling the long-standing problems in this domain; recalling that the Secretariat remains ready to assist, invited them to draw inspiration from the practice of other member States that have resolved similar problems in an effective manner;
13. decided to resume the examination of this group of cases at their 1451st meeting (December 2022) (DH); and, in the event that no tangible progress has been made by then, instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution for the Committee’s consideration.