Racial Profiling, Poverty, and the Best Interest of the Child
by Mariana Monteiro de Matos
Question(s) at stake
Whether the state measures, in particular the prohibition of all contact between the applicant (a migrant Muslim black woman) and her children as well as the children’s placement with a view to adoption, constituted a violation of the right to respect for family life.
Outcome of the ruling
The ECtHR found a breach of the right to respect for family life pursuant to Article 8 of the ECHR. The state measures failed the proportionality test. The removal of the applicant’s children due to the applicant’s poverty and her refusal to undergo sterilization violated Article 8 of the ECHR. The best interest of the child implies that the tie between parents and offspring be maintained and developed except in strictly necessary situations.
Country:
Official citation
Soares de Melo v. Portugal, App. no. 72850/14, 16 February 2016
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Adoption Best interests of the child Measures and actions involving children Motherhood Right to respect for family life
Tag(s):
Poverty Racial profiling Ethnic profiling
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Mariana Monteiro de Matos (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department Law and Anthropology, Germany)
Postdoc, Lisbon (Portugal), 2022; Dr. iur., Göttingen (Germany), 2018; LL.M., Göttingen (Germany), 2013; LL.B., Belém (Brazil), 2011. She is a research fellow and lecturer at the Postgraduate Programme in Law of the Federal University of Pará (Brazil) and research associate of the Department of Law and Anthropology of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Germany). Socio-legal studies, constitutional law and international law are the main fields of her extensive publication record, which includes contributions to Brill Publishers and Oxford University Press. Dr Monteiro de Matos has delivered lectures and workshops around the world to audiences with legal and interdisciplinary backgrounds. Several organizations, including the International Law Association and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, awarded her research prestigious grants. She is a member of the Brazilian Bar Association, the German Society of International Law, and the European Association of Social Anthropologists.