INTRODUCTION
1. This report relates to Application No. 10554/83 lodged against
Sweden by Mrs. Eva Aminoff on 10 April 1981 under Article 25
(art. 25) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. The application was registered on
7 September 1983.
The applicant was represented by Mr. Lennart Hane, a lawyer
practising in Stockholm.
The Government were represented by their Agent, Ambassador Hans
Corell, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and, as advisers,
Mr. Karl-Ingvar Rundqvist, Chief Legal Adviser, Ministry of Health and
Social Affairs, Mr. Staffan Duhs, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Mrs. Gertrud Holmquist, Legal Adviser, Ministry of Health
and Social Affairs, Mr. Håkan Berglin, Legal Adviser, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, and Mrs. Ilse Wetter, Legal Adviser, Lidingö
Municipality.
2. On 15 May 1985 the European Commission of Human Rights
declared the application admissible.* The Commission then proceeded
to carry out its task under Article 28 (art. 28) of the Convention
which provides as follows:
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* This decision is public and can be obtained from the Commission's
Secretary. The decision will be published in the Commission's
official publication entitled Decisions and Reports.
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"In the event of the Commission accepting a petition referred to it:
(a) it shall, with a view to ascertaining the facts, undertake
together with the representatives of the parties an examination of the
petition and, if need be, an investigation, for the effective conduct
of which the States concerned shall furnish all necessary facilities,
after an exchange of views with the Commission;
(b) it shall place itself at the disposal of the parties concerned
with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the matter on the
basis of respect for Human Rights as defined in this Convention."
3. The Commission found that the parties had reached a friendly
settlement of the case and on 10 October 1986 it adopted this Report,
which, in accordance with Article 30 (art. 30) of the Convention, is
confined to a brief statement of the facts and of the solution
reached.
The following members of the Commission were present when the Report
was adopted:
MM. C. A. NØRGAARD, President
G. SPERDUTI
J. A. FROWEIN
F. ERMACORA
E. BUSUTTIL
G. JÖRUNDSSON
G. TENEKIDES
S. TRECHSEL
B. KIERNAN
A. S. GÖZÜBÜYÜK
A. WEITZEL
J. C. SOYER
H. G. SCHERMERS
H. DANELIUS
G. BATLINER
J. CAMPINOS
H. VANDENBERGHE
Mrs G. H. THUNE
Sir Basil HALL
Mr. F. MARTINEZ
PART I: Statement of Facts
4. The applicant, Mrs. Eva Aminoff, is a Finnish citizen born in
1919. When introducing the present application the applicant resided
at Lidingö in Sweden. She now resides in Finland. The applicant has
an adoptive son, Alexander, who was born in March 1969 of Finnish
parents.
5. By decision of 11 October 1979 the Southern Social District
Council (södra sociala distriktsnämnden) of Lidingö decided to take
Alexander into public care pursuant to Sections 25 (a) and 29 of the
1960 Act on Child Welfare (barnavårdslagen). It was decided that the
decision should be executed immediately irrespective of the fact that
it had not yet acquired legal force. As reason for the decision it
was invoked that Alexander was treated at home in a manner which
subjected his health to danger and that his development was
jeopardised as a result of the applicant's unsuitability and inability
to foster Alexander.
As the applicant did not consent to the enforcement of the decision,
it was submitted to the Regional Administrative Court (länsrätten) of
Stockholm for determination. By a decision of 30 October 1979 the
Court ordered that the decision could be enforced prior to the case
having been finally determined by the Court.
6. In November 1979, the Social Council placed Alexander at a
hospital for an examination. However, it appears that Alexander
disappeared from the hospital on 12 November. He then appeared in
Finland where a child psychiatric examination of him was sought at the
Helsinki University Central Hospital.
On 14 November 1979, however, two Swedish social workers and two
Swedish male nurses came to the hospital, fetched Alexander and
brought him back to Sweden. These events were subsequently examined
by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (justitieombudsmannen), who, in a
decision of 24 March 1982, found that the decision to have Alexander
returned to Sweden and the enforcement of that decision were not in
accordance with the applicable provisions. However, since the head of
the social administration of Lidingö could not be held responsible for
unlawful deprivation of liberty due to lack of intent and since he
could not be held responsible for misuse of office, no action was
taken by the Ombudsman.
7. On 16 January 1980 the Regional Administrative Court held a
hearing in the case concerning public care, and by judgment of
13 February 1980 the Court confirmed the decision to take Alexander
into public care.
8. Prior to this decision, by a decision of 23 November 1979, the
Social Council decided that the applicant should not have any right of
access to Alexander, while he was in public care, and that his place
of residence should not be disclosed to the applicant. The applicant
appealed against this decision to the Regional Administrative Court,
which by judgment of 6 February 1981 rejected the appeal.
9. The applicant appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal
(kammarrätten) of Stockholm, against both the judgment concerning
public care of Alexander and the judgment concerning access to him.
The Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the appeals by two
separate judgments dated 18 September 1981.
10. The applicant appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court
(regeringsrätten) which by a decision of 24 February 1982 refused to
grant leave to appeal.
11. On 17 December 1979 Alexander was placed in a foster home,
situated on an island in the lake of Mälaren outside Stockholm. He
stayed in the foster home until 8 May 1984. The foster parents were
Mr. SS, born in 1936, and Miss MÅ, born in 1948. They were not
married, but had lived together since 1969. It appears that as from
1972 they started to take care of children. In 1982 problems arose in
the relationship between the two, and in the spring of 1983 the
relationship broke up.
Alexander was almost eleven years old when he came to the foster home.
As regards his "siblings" in the foster home, it appears that when
Alexander came to the foster home there were at least two boys there
of twenty years of age, both drug addicts. They left the foster home
in the autumn of 1980. A fourteen year old girl arrived in August
1980 and stayed until the beginning of 1982. Another girl of fourteen
was in the foster home from 1981 to 1983. A boy arrived in the autumn
of 1981 and left one and a half years later. A teenage girl was there
from autumn 1982 to spring 1983. A boy of eleven to twelve years
arrived in the autumn of 1982 and left in spring 1983. He was violent
and drank alcohol. An adopted Chilean boy arrived at Christmas 1983
(age eleven) and has stayed in the foster home since then.
It also appears that in the spring of 1983, at the same time as the
relationship broke up between the foster parents, there was a problem
with one of the girls staying there. As a result, representatives of
three social councils made a visit to the foster home and thereafter
one boy and one girl chose to leave the foster home. As from June
1983 it appears that Alexander was alone with the foster father up to
Christmas 1983 when the Chilean boy arrived.
In the course of his stay in the foster home Alexander did not receive
normal schooling. During substantial periods, inter alia the spring
of 1980 and of 1983, Alexander received education only in the foster
home and partly only for a few hours per week. Moreover, during the
spring semester of 1984 Alexander attended the school only for short
periods. In the school he was not called by his own name of Aminoff,
but was called by his foster father's family name.
12. On 8 May 1984, Alexander disappeared from the foster home to
Finland, where he has since then been staying together with the
applicant.
13. On 1 October 1984 the Social Council decided that the public
care should be discontinued.
14. Before the Commission the applicant complained that the
Swedish authorities subjected her son and herself to inhuman treatment
and that the decisions to take her child into public care and to stop
all access to him while in public care as well as the refusal to
disclose his whereabouts and his treatment in the foster home
constituted violations of Articles 3, 6, 8 (art. 3), (art. 6),
(art. 8) and 10 (art. 10) of the Convention and Article 2 of Protocol
No. 1 (P-1-2) to the Convention.
Part II: Solution reached
15. Following its decision on the admissibility of the
application, the Commission placed itself at the disposal of the
parties with a view to securing a friendly settlement in accordance
with Article 28 (b) (art. 28-b) of the Convention and invited the
parties to submit any proposals they wished to make.
In accordance with the usual practice the Secretary, acting on the
Commission's instructions, contacted the parties in order to explore
the possibilities of reaching a friendly settlement. Following an
exchange of letters the Secretary and Mr. Erik Fribergh of the
Commission's Secretariat had separate discussions with the parties in
Stockholm on 11 and 12 September 1986. Following these separate
discussions the parties agreed on the terms of a friendly settlement.
16. By letter of 24 September 1986 the Agent of the Government
confirmed the agreement by submitting the following declaration of the
Government:
"In view of the Commission's decision to declare Application
No. 10554/83 admissible, the Government are prepared to make the
following offer in order to terminate the proceedings before the
Commission:
a. The Government will pay to the applicant the sum of two
hundred thousand (200 000) Swedish Crowns to be used for her son
Alexander.
b. The Government will pay the applicant's legal costs in the
proceedings before the Commission in the amount of one hundred
twenty-five thousand (125 000) Swedish Crowns."
17. In his letter of 30 September 1986 the applicant's
representative, Mr. Lennart Hane, made the following declaration on
behalf of the applicant:
"With reference to Application No. 10554/83 pending before the
European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and in view of the
offer made by the Swedish Government in their letter 24th of September
1986, I hereby accept the offer and declare Application No. 10554/83
to be settled.
This declaration is being made in view of the settlement within the
meaning of Article 28 (b) (art. 28-b) of the European Convention on
Human Rights which has been reached in co-operation with the European
Commission of Human Rights in the proceedings concerning this
application."
18. The Commission, at its session on 10 October 1986, noted that
the parties had reached an agreement regarding the terms of a
settlement. The Commission further found, having regard to Article 28
(b) (art. 28-b) of the Convention, that a friendly settlement had been
secured on the basis of respect for Human Rights as defined in the
Convention.
For these reasons, the Commission adopted this Report.
Secretary to the Commission President of the Commission
(H. C. KRÜGER) (C. A. NØRGAARD)