CtEDH: Le refus de reconnaître un couple (de même sexe ou de sexe opposé) comme les parents d’un enfant né d’une gestation pour autrui ne constitue pas une violation de la CEDH

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Valdís Fjölnisdóttir and Others v. Iceland (application no. 71552/17) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: no violation Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned the refusal to recognise a parental link between Ms Fjölnisdóttir and Ms Agnarsdóttir and X. The latter had been born to them via a surrogate mother in the United States, but neither of the first two applicants is biologically related to him. They had not been recognised as the child’s parents in Iceland, where surrogacy is illegal.

The Court found that despite the lack of a biological link between the applicants, there had been “family life” in the applicants’ relationship. However, the Court found that the decision not to recognise the first two applicants as X’s parents had had a sufficient basis in domestic law and, taking note of the efforts on the parts of the authorities to maintain that “family life”, ultimately adjudged that Iceland had acted within its discretion in this case.

Read: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22003-7021990-9472889%22]}