AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF
Application No. 34572/97
by Silvano VESDANI
against Italy
___________
The European Commission of Human Rights (First Chamber) sitting
in private on 4 March 1998, the following members being present:
MM. M.P. PELLONPÄÄ, President
N. BRATZA
E. BUSUTTIL
A. WEITZEL
C.L. ROZAKIS
Mrs. J. LIDDY
MM. L. LOUCAIDES
B. CONFORTI
I. BÉKÉS
G. RESS
A. PERENIC
C. BÎRSAN
K. HERNDL
M. VILA AMIGÓ
Mrs. M. HION
Mr. R. NICOLINI
Mrs. M.F. BUQUICCHIO, Secretary to the Chamber
Having regard to Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
Having regard to the application introduced on 9 July 1996 by
Silvano VESDANI against Italy and registered on 22 January 1997 under
file No. 34572/97;
Having regard to the report provided for in Rule 47 of the Rules
of Procedure of the Commission;
Having deliberated;
Decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant is an Italian national, born in 1938 and currently
resident in Bournemouth (United Kingdom).
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be
summarised as follows.
The applicant was born on 3 December 1938 in Rome and registered
as the son of a woman who did not wish to reveal her identity. He had
been given the name of Silvano VESDANI.
The applicant, who underwent circumcision in the first few years
of his life, was subsequently placed in an orphanage. During his
childhood, he frequently received visits from a young couple who used
to bring expensive gifts to him. However, he never knew the identity
of these persons.
From 1988 to December 1996, the applicant addressed many letters
and petitions to various Italian authorities - such as the President
of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of Rome - seeking the
disclosure of his real parents' identity and of the medical records of
the first years of his life. He also wrote to the clinic A., where he
was presumed to have been born, to the orphanage where he had grown up
and to his secondary school, without obtaining the information he was
looking for.
On 1 December 1992, the applicant requested the Rome Public
Prosecutor's Office to grant him, according to Article 185 of Royal
Decree no. 1238/1939, permission to obtain the original and full copy
of his birth certificate. On 2 December 1992, the Rome Public
Prosecutor granted the requested permission and the applicant was
subsequently given a copy of the certificate in question. It reported
that on 8 December 1938, one Mrs. K. - who was acting in her capacity
as delegate of the director of the above-mentioned clinic A. and was
at that time aged of fifty years old - had declared to the Registrar
of births, deaths and marriages that on 3 December 1938 a baby was born
in Rome to a woman who did not wish to reveal her identity.
The applicant contested the authenticity of this document on many
occasions. On 1 February 1993, the Rome City Council informed him that
the copy reproduced the original certificate kept in its archives and
that the latter could be rectified only by bringing an action before
the Rome District Court according to the procedure prescribed by law
(Articles 167 ff. of Royal Decree no. 1238/1939). On 13 January 1997,
the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office informed the applicant that his
assertion that the certificate was false could not, as such, be taken
into consideration. An investigation could be opened solely on the
basis of a detailed statement of the facts raising doubts as to the
document's authenticity and indicating the names of witnesses who could
confirm them.
The applicant also tried to find Mrs. K., the woman who had made
the declaration of birth. In a letter of 18 December 1994, the
applicant was informed that Mrs. K. had died in Austria, approximately
twenty years earlier.
On 11 November 1996, the administration of the former clinic A.
acquainted the applicant with the fact that his medical records were
no longer in its possession.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains about the impossibility to obtain
information about the names of his real parents. He alleges that by
refusing to co-operate with him, the competent Italian authorities
breached his right to respect to family life, guaranteed by Article 8
of the Convention.
THE LAW
Invoking Article 8 (Art. 8) of the Convention, the applicant
complains about the impossibility to obtain information about the names
of his real parents.
Article 8 (Art. 8) reads as follows:
"1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and
family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority
with the exercise of this right except such as is in
accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic
society in the interests of national security, public
safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the
prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of
health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and
freedoms of others."
The applicant complains about the treatment to which he has been
subjected. He alleges that from his birth until now the competent
Italian authorities failed to co-operate with him and constantly tried
to hide the information he was seeking.
The Commission first observes that the recognition of the right
of individual petition under Article 25 (Art. 25) of the Convention
took effect in respect of Italy on 1 August 1973. It recalls that,
according to the generally recognised principles of international law,
for all Contracting Parties, the Convention governs only facts which
arose after it came into force in respect of the Party concerned.
Consequently, the circumstances relating to the applicant's birth - and
notably the way in which it was registered by the Registrar of births,
deaths and marriages -, which date back to December 1938, will not be
taken into consideration by the Commission as falling outside its
competence ratione temporis.
As to the behaviour of the Italian authorities after 1 August
1973, it is to be noted that the applicant complains about the
impossibility to obtain the information and documents he was seeking,
namely the original and full copy of his birth certificate indicating
the identity of his parents.
The Commission recalls that persons who have been received into
care by Public Institutions, such as orphanages, have a vital interest,
protected by the Convention, in receiving the information necessary to
know and to understand their childhood and early development (see
Eur. Court HR, Gaskin v. the United Kingdom judgment of 7 July 1989,
Series A no. 160, p. 20, para. 49) and that according to its case-law,
the failure to issue a birth certificate may imply an interference with
the right to respect for family life (Nos. 7823/77-7824/77,
Dec. 6.7.77, D.R. 11, pp. 221, 223).
However, it does not appear that in the instant case the
applicant has been denied access to any record concerning his childhood
and the names of his real parents or that the authorities had tried to
hide any information which might be relevant in this respect. The
original and full copy of the birth certificate was in fact delivered
to him, as on 2 December 1992 the Rome Public Prosecutor granted the
permission the applicant had requested. The name of the mother was not
mentioned because she had stated she wished not to disclose her
identity, and nothing suggests that the Italian authorities were or are
aware of it. It is true that the applicant considers that the
certificate is false. However, he has failed to introduce an action to
rectify the birth certificate before the Rome District Court under
Articles 167 ff. of Royal Decree no. 1238/1939, nor has he requested
that criminal proceedings be instituted for forgery. In any case, even
assuming that the applicant has exhausted domestic remedies on this
point, he has not provided the Commission with any factual evidence
supporting his assertion and has therefore not substantiated his
complaint.
It follows that the application is manifestly ill-founded within
the meaning of Article 27 para. 2 (Art. 27-2) of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Commission, unanimously,
DECLARES THE APPLICATION INADMISSIBLE.
M.F. BUQUICCHIO M.P. PELLONPÄÄ
Secretary President
to the First Chamber of the First Chamber
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy