The panel of five ECHR judges, who met on Monday 1 June “has decided to authorise the appeal of the Paradiso and Campanelli case before the Grand Chamber at the request of the Italian government”.
The Paradiso and Campanelli case concerns a nine month old baby born in Russia to a surrogate mother for an Italian couple. Italy refused to register the birth and removed the baby from the commissioning couple for adoption. Condemned in January by the second section of the ECHR, Italy launched an appeal. On Monday, the Court recognised that “Section legislation could be subject to criticism and raised a new, significant legal issue”.
The No Maternity Traffic movement, which organised a demonstration in Strasbourg on Monday, “rejoiced” in this latest decision which shows that “ECHR judges adopt a serious approach to maternity trafficking and the children highlighted by this case”.
According to Gregor Puppinck, Director of the ECLJ, “This is the first surrogacy case to be judged by the Grand Chamber and it will have a tremendous impact”. In fact, “the decisions taken by the Grand Chamber define Court doctrines and apply in all 47 Member States of the European Council”.
Liberté Politique (Gregor Puppinck) 03/06/2015 ; No Maternity Traffic (03/06/2015)