B.T. and B.K.Cs. v Hungary (pending)

07 May 2019

Facts

The applicants (that is, the people who are making a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights) are a Romani woman (B.T.) from Hungary and her child (B.K.Cs.). We are representing them in their case before the European Court. They are referred to by their initials in order to protect their privacy. This is important, especially as B.K.Cs. is a child. This is why we are only providing some information about the case, and not posting the full legal complaint on this page.

B.K.Cs. was his mother’s sixth child. A health visitor came to visit B.T. at her home and made a recommendation to the authorities, which B.T. did not know about. The recommendation was that B.T. should not be allowed to take home her new-born child after giving birth. Three days after giving birth. B.T. was discharged from the hospital and was not allowed to take home her baby. 

The authorities decided to place B.K.Cs. in temporary care. With help from the ERRC, B.T. challenged this decision through the courts, including to Hungary’s Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. But she lost her case. The Hungarian courts said it was acceptable for B.K.Cs. to be in care.

The authorities then decided to place B.K.Cs. permanently in care. With the ERRC’s help, B.T. challenged this as well, but lost the case in court. Yet in the end, almost three years after B.K.Cs. was born, the authorities decided he could return to live with his parents. 

The Case

B.T. thinks it was wrong for the authorities to take her child into care and that it was wrong of the Hungarian courts to allow it. She asked the ERRC to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights after all of the courts in Hungary refused her appeals. She wanted to make this complaint on her own behalf and on her child’s behalf. We sent a complaint on their behalf to the European Court in December 2015. 

Separating a new-born baby from his parents is extremely serious. In the case, we are arguing that there was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment) taken with Article 14 (which concerns discrimination). In other words, we said that separating a mother and a baby just after birth is so severe that it amounts to a very serious human rights violation, and in this case it was racially discriminatory. We also argued that there was a violation of Article 8 (the right to respect for family life) taken with Article 14 – so taking the baby into care was a discriminatory violation of the family’s right to live their life together. We also argued that the way the decision was carried out – not informing B.T. in advance and then not allowing her to leave the hospital with her baby – deprived her of an effective remedy. She should have had some way of challenging this decision earlier, and a way to make an appeal and return home with her child in the meantime, instead of just being forced to leave the hospital and return home without the baby.

In order to show that there was race discrimination, we referred to data showing a vast over-representation of Romani children in the care system in Hungary. We also pointed out that the authorities in the applicants’ local area had made discriminatory comments about not allowing Romani women to bring their children home from the hospital after giving birth. 

On 19 March 2019, the European Court decided to communicate the case to the Hungarian Government. This means that the Court has decided that Hungary has a case to answer, and there will be an exchange of arguments between the Parties. We will represent B.T. and B.K.Cs. in those exchanges. Based on the timeframes the Court tries to follow, there should be a judgment by March 2021.

The European Court’s statement of facts in the case can be found here.

You can find more information about the ERRC’s work on children in care here, including data about discrimination in the care system in Hungary.