A decision adopted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on a case involving domestic violence and the custody of a child

NordenBladet —  On 5 March 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women adopted a decision on a case involving domestic violence and the custody of a child. The decision stated that the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was violated.

The case was about whether authorities had neglected the state’s duty to exercise due diligence and whether the state had taken the necessary steps to protect the author and her child in the case of domestic violence.

The Committee also finds that the decision cast on the custody issue included few grounds for transferring the custody of the child from the author to the father, and that the domestic violence the author had been subjected to had been given little significance in the decision-making process. According to the Committee, the father’s ability to act as a parent, despite numerous child welfare reports and despite his conviction for violence, had not been assessed.

The Committee recalls that the primary consideration of the child’s best interest must be specified and justified in decisions cast on children. The Committee finds that the state has failed to exercise its due diligence with regard to processing the claims put forward by the author. This has harmed the child’s best interest and the author’s opportunities to equal treatment regarding the custody issue. Furthermore, the Committee finds that the authorities had applied a stereotypical and, therefore, discriminatory notion of domestic violence.

The Committee recommends that this case involving the custody of a child be reprocessed without delay. In connection to this, it is recommended that a thorough assessment of violence of the child’s father be carried out in order to assess the child’s best interest. The Committee also recommends that a due compensation be paid to the author.

The Committee also issues recommendations to general measures to be taken, inter alia, in decisions on the custody of a child involving domestic violence.

This is the first decision adopted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women which concerns Finland in an individual communication. The Committee requests Finland to report, within six months, on the measures that have been taken in response to the decision.

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