'THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD' PRINCIPLE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Abstract

Principle of the best interests of the child today should correspond to individual child as a independent righ-holder. The mentioned concept is advocated by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and designated as the right-based approach. That is why the analysis of the best interests of the child cannot be separated from the idea of human rights and particularly the rights of a child as a specific form of fundamental rights adjusted to children. Such approach has its shortcomings, but the space and topic of this paper did not allow further consideration on this matter. The European Union as supranational organisation was not intended to deal with the issue of human rights since its main aspirations were achievement of economic goals of single market. However, European Court of Justice was treating human rights as general principles of law, especially in the light of free movement and family reunification of migrant workers. Unfortunatelly, such practice was developing in an ad hoc manner, often directed by the economic purpose of the Union. The key point was the adoption of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights which needed eight years to acqire binding force by the Lisbon Treaty. The Charter has incorporated the core rights from the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The latter Convention borrows the principle of the best interests of the child to the Charter together with the right of the child to express views as a key feature and component of this principle. Although the Charter made a huge progress in the field of European Union human rights law and legal status of children, it can be noticed that the idea of the best interests of the child has certain weak points comparing with its counterpart from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Especially vulnerable is the Charter formulation of the right of children to express their opinion where the makers of the Charter missed to mention that views of the child should be given due weight as it was stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, it has been suggested in the paper that the right of the child to survival and development should have been included in the text of the Charter.