The mother who brought the case had seen her 10-year-old son only once in five years, despite a court ruling in 2018 that she should see her son without his father being present at weekends and in the holidays. The order had been appealed twice by the father but had been upheld by the Slovakian regional court in 2022 and by the Slovakian supreme court in 2023.

In its judgment of 8th February 2024 in Janočková and Kvocera v Slovakia the court concluded that “the measures taken by the Slovakian courts were not as adequate and effective as could reasonably have been expected in the circumstances of the case for the facilitation of the reunion between the applicants”.

The court stated: “In relation to the State’s obligation to implement positive measures, for parents Article 8 includes a right that steps be taken to reunite them with their children and an obligation on the national authorities to facilitate such reunions. This applies not only to cases dealing with the compulsory taking of children into public care and the implementation of care measures, but also to cases where contact and residence disputes concerning children arise between parents and/or other members of the children’s family.”

The judgment added: “What is decisive is whether the national authorities have taken all necessary steps to facilitate the execution of any order regulating contact that can reasonably be demanded in the specific circumstances of each case.

“In this context, the adequacy of a measure is to be judged by the swiftness of its implementation, as the passage of time can have irremediable consequences for relations between the child and the parent who does not live with the child.”