Title: The right to family life in the framework of ECHR and EU case law

Authors: Christina M. Akrivopoulou

Addresses: Greek Refugee Appeals Authority, Kanellopoulou Avenue 2, PC 101 77, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The paper that follows offers a short account regarding the nature and concept of the right to family life in the framework of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and European Court of Justice (ECJ) case law. More specifically, the nature and concept of the right to family life and its many aspects will be analysed both from a theoretical and a comparative point to view. Thus, the many dimensions of the right to family, as a social right of the family unit, as an institutional guarantee and as a freedom for its members are presented in a comparative constitutional framework (Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Greece). Moreover, the right to family life as an open and evolving concept is analysed both in the ECtHR and in the ECJ case law.

Keywords: right to family life; right to privacy; civil rights; institutional guarantee; European Court of Human Rights; ECHR; European Convention of Human Rights; European Court of Justice; ECJ; EU case law; European Union; Ireland; Italy; Spain; Portugal; Germany; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2015.069232

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2015 Vol.3 No.1, pp.101 - 109

Published online: 05 May 2015 *

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