Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Ideologia e contenuto della protezione della famiglia nelle carte e convenzioni internazionali di tutela dei diritti fondamentali. – 2. Lo spazio europeo e la CEDU: norme e metodi di tutela. – 3. La cop- pia alla prova del pluralismo dei modelli familiari. – 4. L’uguaglianza tra i coniugi e la protezione dalla violenza domestica. – 5. La filiazione: dall’uguaglianza di diritti tra i figli alla procreazione medicalmente assistita e all’interruzione di gravidanza. – 6. La crisi della famiglia. – 7. Famiglia, immigrazione, società multi- culturale. – 8. Considerazioni conclusive.

Abstract

This article illustrates the protection of family relations in international human rights law, with particular regard to the European Convention on Human Rights. After an overview of the different international texts protecting the rights of the individual in the family sphere, the arti- cle focuses on the European Convention on Human Rights. It examines the European Court of Human Rights’case-law on the rights and status of couples, including the recognition of non- traditional couples, on the parent-child relationship, on medical procreation and abortion, on marriage breakdown and domestic violence, and on aliens’expulsion and family reunification, with a view to assessing the Court’s attitude towards pluralism and multiculturalism, key fea- tures of family relations in contemporary Western societies. The article concludes that, while acknowledging the differences in social and legal conceptions of the family in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights has tried to respond to the challenges posed by the evolu- tion of family law of the European States. Through use of various interpretative tools (evolutive interpretation, “additional rights” theory, protection of economic rights), the Court has estab- lished a “European” standard of protection of the family, where pluralism and multiculturalism of family relations are increasingly recognised.