"Paradiso and Campanelli v. Italy" (II): hard cases make bad law

Abstract

Last January the 27, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its final judgement in Paradiso and Campanelli v. Italy, in which the Italian authorities declared in a state of abandonment a child conceived with donated gametes and gestated in Russia through surrogacy ordered by Italian spouses with whom the child had spent her first eight months of life. The decision, which overturns the previous ruling by the 2^nd Section, considers that the national authorities’ behavior does not infringe art. 8 ECHR, since it does not interfere with the commissioning parents’ family life, but constitutes a justified interference with their private life. Although a contrary solution could lead to legalize a situation created by them against the Italian law, the Grand Chamber’s analysis on the national authorities’ behavior contains some weak points. In spite of this, Paradiso (II) is a difficult case from which general readings cannot be inferred but it confirms the need of monitoring a practice which poses serious exploitation risks.