Main Points

1

The Ordo Iuris Institute has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights regarding three daughters who were taken from their Polish parents, Ewa and Robert Klaman, by the Swedish authorities in Poland and subsequently transferred to Sweden.

2

The Klamans’ eldest daughter had previously been taken from them in Sweden.

3

According to the Institute’s lawyers, the removal of the girls, their placement in foster care, and the prevention of contact with their family constitute a violation of the right to family life.

4

This represents a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Ordo Iuris Institute continues to support Ewa and Robert Klaman in the fight to reunite their daughters with their parents.

Lawyers from the Ordo Iuris Institute filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on behalf of Mr. Robert Klaman, the father of four girls, who were taken away by Swedish officials and placed in three different families in foster care.

The complaint concerns a violation by the Swedish authorities of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to respect for private and family life.

There should be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

A positive opinion from the probation officer and social services in Poland

In the opinion of the lawyers of the Ordo Iuris Institute, the taking away of Robert Klaman’s daughters, their removal by Swedish officials from Poland to Sweden at the beginning of July 2024, placing them in different foster families in Sweden, the concealment from the parents of the daughters’ whereabouts by a decision of the Swedish Social Welfare Committee (Socialnämnden), and preventing direct contact with his daughters constituted a violation of his right to family life. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has repeatedly held in its case law that separating a family constitutes a very serious interference with family life, and the removal of a child is the most radical measure that may be applied only as a last resort to protect the child in a situation of an immediate threat to the child’s best interests. It should be noted that after returning to Poland from Sweden with the children in February 2024, before the children were removed and taken back to Sweden, the Klaman family lived for four months within the territory of the Republic of Poland. At that time, the children were with their parents, and the Polish institutions assessing the family’s situation (the probation officer and the social welfare center staff) saw no need to remove the children, as they found no threat to their well-being. The cooperation established with the girls’ parents went well.

The Strasburg Court has repeatedly emphasized in its case law that, because the removal of children constitutes a very serious interference with family life, such a decision should be properly and duly justified. The decisions of the Swedish authorities regarding the Klaman family contain no arguments indicating what threat to the best interests of the Klaman family’s minor daughters is posed by their parents. The courts relied on the preliminary findings of the Swedish Social Welfare Committee (Socialnämnden), which issued a decision to immediately remove the children. In the reasoning of judgments of Swedish courts at the various levels, there is simply a repetition of the original argument adopted by Socialnämnden. Swedish courts did not take into account even the evidence from proceedings before a Polish court, which showed that there was no threat to the children’s welfare justifying their removal from their parents. Specialists in Poland deemed the support provided to the family by aid institutions sufficient. The discrepancies between the findings of the Polish and Swedish authorities have not been verified in any way by the Swedish authorities. The actions of the Swedish authorities should be regarded as failing to meet the criterion of proportionality (adequacy) referred to in the aforementioned Article 8(2) of the Convention.

Genuine support from the Polish authorities regarding the Klaman family would be highly desirable.

A possible judgment of the European Court of Human Rights finding that the state concerned has violated one of the fundamental rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights does not immediately and directly change the applicant’s situation. In the present case, it will not result in the automatic return of the children to Mr. and Mrs. Klaman. However, it indicates the gravity of the violation of rights by the state concerned and should have a significant bearing on the review of the situation that is the subject of the complaint in subsequent proceedings in the case.

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Source of cover photo: Adobe Stock

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