09 Aug Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights against Romania for violating Article 6 of the Convention in the procedure for obtaining a family allowance

In the case of Negrea and Others v. Romania (application no. 53183/07, 24/07/2018) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) and a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) taken together with Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights

The case concerned, among other things, allegations of indirect discrimination on the grounds of belonging to the Roma ethnic group, vis-à-vis the right to family allowances.

The applicants, are Romanian nationals belonging to the Roma ethnic group. The legal provisions in force at the relevant time (2001 to 2003) provided for the award of various social rights, such as a childbirth payment for mothers and for child allowance, at the time the applicants had been cohabiting with their partners. Each of them gave birth to a child out of wedlock, and all the children were recognised by their respective fathers. The applicants submitted that their local town clerk refused to register their allowance applications on the grounds that they had not contracted civil marriages with their children’s fathers.

The applicants lodged a criminal complaint against the Frata town clerk and mayor with the Turda court of first instance on charges of abuse of authority.

The Court considered, firstly, that proceedings which lasted seven years and nine months, a duration which could not be attributed to the complexity of the case or to the applicants’ conduct, did not meet the “reasonable time” requirement. However, it noted that there was no tangible evidence in the case file to prove that individuals from the Roma ethnic group had been more affected than others, and held that there had been no discriminatory treatment on the part of the authorities. Lastly, it noted that at the relevant time there had been no effective remedy in Romania in order to complain about excessive length of proceedings. Thus, there has been a violation of Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention.

References from the official website of the European Court of Human Rights