Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Preface
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Memoir
- Part I The Family Justice System and The Work of Family Lawyers, Judges and Academics
- Part II Developing Family Law and Policy: Culture, Concepts and Values
- Part III Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Marriage
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Cohabitation
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Financial Aspects and Property
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Parentage, Parenthood and Responsibility for Children
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Children’s Rights and Welfare
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Post-Separation Parenting and Child Support
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures State Intervention
- Part V Individual Family Law
- Part VI Other Family Matters
- John Eekelaar’s Publications
- Index
- About The Editors
Developments in The Protection Of Children’s Rights in Spain
With Special Reference to the Context of Gender Violence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2023
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Preface
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Memoir
- Part I The Family Justice System and The Work of Family Lawyers, Judges and Academics
- Part II Developing Family Law and Policy: Culture, Concepts and Values
- Part III Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Marriage
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Cohabitation
- Part III: Horizontal Family Law: Relationships Between Adults Financial Aspects and Property
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Parentage, Parenthood and Responsibility for Children
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Children’s Rights and Welfare
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures Post-Separation Parenting and Child Support
- Part IV: Vertical Family Law: Children, Parents and Parental Figures State Intervention
- Part V Individual Family Law
- Part VI Other Family Matters
- John Eekelaar’s Publications
- Index
- About The Editors
Summary
1. INTRODUCTION
The principle of the best interest of the child has been the main criterion behind the legal reforms and judicial and institutional practices in relation to the protection and rights of children in Spain since the 1987 Law on Fostering and Adoption, followed some years later by the Organic Law of 1996 for the Protection of Minors. Several local laws were also enacted in the autonomous regions of Spain during the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century, addressing the protection and rights of children. More recently, two national laws were passed in 2015: Organic Law 8/2015 and Law 26/2015, both of which introduced some changes in the field of the protection of minors. Finally, Organic Law 8/2021 of 4 June has very recently been passed by the Spanish parliament, and published in the official gazette. This law, on the protection of infants and adolescents against all forms of violence, will come into effect in 2022.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child came into effect in Spain on 2 September 1990. The subsequent legal changes took place within the framework of the Convention. Article 3, one of the most important articles in the Convention, establishes that:
In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration (Art. 3.1).
At the time, the issue of the extent of children’s rights was under discussion in Spain. The influence of scholars and experts from other countries, such as John Eekelaar, played a very significant role in ensuring that the rights of children were respected in legal and social practice, to protect the best interest of the child.
Once the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child had been adopted and ratified in Spain, the social, scientific and academic reflections and debates underlined the need to reinforce and extend the rights of children in other areas, for example in cases where their rights came into conflict with the rights of adults, particularly their parents; and cases in which the individual rights came up against collective rights within the cultural or religious context in which the children lived.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Family MattersEssays in Honour of John Eekelaar, pp. 789 - 800Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2022