Kontakt 2024, 26(1):77-82 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2024.013

Fulfilment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the practice of Czech courtsSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Kateřina Cilečková^{1, *}, Monika Chrenková¹, Martin Kornel^{1, 2}

¹ University of Ostrava, Faculty of Social Studies, Department of Social Work, Ostrava, Czech Republic

² Masaryk University, Faculty of Law, Department of Civil Law, Brno, Czech Republic; Attorney, Frank Bold Advokáti, s.r.o., Brno, Czech Republic

The aim of the project was to find out how the opinions of minor children are ascertained in proceedings in which they are participants, what techniques are used, and whether (and to what extent) the courts take the ascertained opinions into account when making decisions that affect the children's future life. The rights of children to adequate participation in court proceedings mainly results from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The paper discusses how the child's opinion is ascertained depending on his or her age, the methods of ascertaining the child's opinion, including the specific techniques that may be used and, last but not least, the importance of ascertaining the child's opinion for the justification of the judgment. The results of the research show the crucial role of an authority of social and legal protection of children as a conflict guardian, and also point out that it's necessary to pay constant attention to the actual realization of the rights of minors. In the Czech Republic the determination of the opinions of minors is well anchored in the legislation, but reality does not always correspond to this.

Keywords: Decision-making practice of courts; Methods of ascertaining the child's opinion; Participation of minor children; Proceedings in matters concerning the custody of minors

Grants and funding:

This paper was written within the framework of the grant project entitled “Participation of Children in Child Custody Proceedings”, supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), number GA20-12790S.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: July 20, 2023; Revised: January 23, 2024; Accepted: February 14, 2024; Prepublished online: March 7, 2024; Published: March 15, 2024  Show citation