International Law in Brief
ECtHR Holds COVID-19 Not an Excuse for Elongated Proceedings
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By: Kehinde Winful | February 10, 2022 - 2:33pm
On February 8, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights in case of Q and R v. Slovenia issued a judgment in favor of two grandparents arguing that the foster permission proceedings regarding their grandchildren had been prolonged and unfair. The Court denied the government's argument that “the restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 crisis [would] have understandably had an adverse effect on the processing of cases before the domestic courts,” holding instead that COVID-19 restrictions did not absolve the state of responsibility in regards to special diligence to urgent procedure. In making its decision, the Court relied on Art 6 § 1 of the Convention which concerns the appropriate length of proceedings.