JNSS 2016, 7(1-2):82-91 | DOI: 10.32725/jnss.2016.008

Legal embedment of children's participatory rights in the Czech legal code

Jana Borská1,*, Sylva ©vejdarová2
1 University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
2 Czech University of Agriculture in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

In the past three years, the Czech Republic has made far-reaching interferences in the legal regulation of socio-legal protection of children. In particular, children's rights have been strengthened, and new legal means assisting their protection have been established. With the adoption of new legal regulation of family law (which is comprehensively regulated by the Civil Code Act No. 89/2012 Coll.), a new procedural regulation has also followed, which deals with procedural ordinances connected with the protection of minor children, and a new act on special court procedures has been adopted. This extensive legal regulation has been a reaction to the elevated need of child protection, the necessity of which was evident in the periodical evaluations of the reports on the implementation of the Convention on Children's Rights in the Czech Republic. The increased children's rights protection, including the participatory right, was implemented in the new legislation, which became binding on 1 January, 2014. The purpose of this paper is to define the implementation of the children's participatory right into the new legal regulation in the Czech legal code, with a focus on the connection between such legal regulations, regarding the socio-legal children's rights protection authority (SLCRPA), and the courts in civil procedures, with respect to the differing roles and positions of the SLCRPA and courts in guaranteeing child protection. We have carried out a comparative analysis of legal texts from the point of view of implementation of international documents. The examined home legislation included the Act No. 359/1999 Coll., on Socio-Legal Child Protection, Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code, Act No. 99/1963 Coll., the Civil Proceedings Code, Act No. 292/2013 Coll., on Special Court Procedures and the practical impact of such legislative regulation.

Keywords: minor child; children's rights protection; child protection authority; guardianship courts; children's participatory rights

Received: February 18, 2016; Accepted: March 22, 2016; Published: March 1, 2016  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Borská J, ©vejdarová S. Legal embedment of children's participatory rights in the Czech legal code. Journal of Nursing, Social Studies, Public Health and Rehabilitation. 2016;7(1-2):82-91. doi: 10.32725/jnss.2016.008.
Download citation

References

  1. Bilson A, White S (2005). Representing Children's Views and Best Interests in Courts. Child Abuse Review. 14: 220-239. DOI: 10.1002/car.902. Go to original source...
  2. Charta základních práv EU (2000) [The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.euroskop.cz/gallery/6/2090-charta_zakladnich_prav_1.pdf (Czech).
  3. Che Soh R (2014). Children's Participation in Custody and Access Proceedings. IIUM Law Journal. 22/1: 34-45. Go to original source...
  4. Donnelly C (2010). Reflections of a Guardian Ad Litem on the Participation of Looked-after Children in Public Law Proceedings. Child Care in Practice. 16/2: 181-193. Doi: 10.1080/13575270903493390. Go to original source...
  5. Evropská úmluva o výkonu práv dětí (2001) [European Convention on Practice of Children's Rights]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.umpod.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/Pravni_predpisy_-_PDF/sb021-01m.pdf (sdělení MZV č. 54/2001 Sb.m.s.) (Czech).
  6. Hruąáková M, Králíčková Z, Westphalová L et al. (2014). Občanský zákoník II, Rodinné právo (sect; 655-975), Komentář [Civil Code II, Family Law]. Praha: C. H. Beck, 1349 p. (Czech).
  7. James AL (2008). Children, the UNCRC, and Family Law in England and Wales. Family Court Review. 46/1: 53-64. Go to original source...
  8. Jirsa J, Beran V, Doleľal M, Havlíček K, Janek K, Janek KD et al. (2014). Občanské soudní řízení soudcovský komentář, Kniha II. § 79-180 občanského soudního řádu (podle stavu k 1. 4. 2014) [Civil Court Proceeding Arbitral Comments, Book II]. Vyd. JUDr. Karel Havlíček Brain Team, 2014, 601 p. (Czech).
  9. Macela M, Hovorka D, Křístek A, Trubačová K, Zárasová Z (2015). Zákon o sociálně-právní ochraně dětí, Komentář [Act on Social and Legal Protection of Children, Comments]. Praha: Wolters Kluwer, a. s., 912 p. (Czech).
  10. Nález Ústavního soudu III. ÚS 3007/2009 (2010) [Finding of the Constitutional Court III, CC 3007/2009 (2000)]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.ochrance.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikace/sborniky_stanoviska/Rodina_a_dite/Nalez_US_3007-2009_.pdf (Czech).
  11. Pölkki P, Vornanen R, Pursiainen M, Riikonen M (2012). Children's Participation in Child-protection Processes as Experienced by Foster Children and Social Workers, Child Care in Practice. 18/2: 107-125. Doi: 10.1080/13575279.2011.646954. Go to original source...
  12. Svoboda K, Tláąková ©, Vláčil D, Levý J, Hromada M. et al. (2015). Zákon o zvláątních řízeních soudních. Komentář [Act on Special Court Proceedings. Comments]. Praha: C. H. Beck. 1054 p. (Czech).
  13. Vis SA, Fossum S (2013). Representation of children's views in court hearings about custody and parental visitations - A comparison between what children wanted and what the courts ruled. Children and Youth Services Review. 35: 2101-2109. Go to original source...
  14. Woodhouse BB (2014). Listening to children: Participation rights of minors in Italy and the United States, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law. 36/4: 358-369. Doi: 10.1080/09649069.2014.967983. Go to original source...
  15. Zákon č. 99/1963 Sb., občanský soudní řád, v platném znění [Act No. 99/1963 Coll., civil court, as amended]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/1963-99 (Czech).
  16. Zákon č. 359/1999 Sb., o sociálně-právní ochraně dětí, v platném znění [Act No. 359/1999 Coll., on Social and Legal Protection of Children, as amended]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/1999-359 (Czech).
  17. Zákon č. 301/2000 Sb., o matrikách, jménu a příjmení, v platném znění [Act No. 301/2000 Coll., on Registers, Names and Surnames, as amended]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2000-301 (Czech).
  18. Zákon č. 89/2012 Sb., občanský zákoník, v platném znění. In: Sbírka zákonů ČR [Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code, as amended. In: Statute-book of the Czech Republic]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2012-89 (Czech).
  19. Zákon č. 292/2013 Sb., o zvláątních řízeních soudních, v platném znění. In: Sbírka zákonů ČR [Act No. 292/2013 Coll., on Special Court Proceedings, as amended. In: Statute-book of the Czech Republic]. [online] [cit. 2016-03-21]. Available from: http://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2013-292 (Czech).

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.