Χαιρετισμός, τοποθέτηση και πρόταση του ΓΟΝ.ΙΣ (GON.IS.) στο Συνέδριο στο Στρασβούργο

Δείτε την σχετική ανακοίνωση του Συνεδρίου ΕΔΩ

Athens, 22nd of October 2013 

The Greek non-profitable non-government organization GON.IS. representing all greek GON.IS. congratulates you on your initiative to organize a convention on such a serious matter as is the child joint custody.

In Greece we face acute problem in the cases of divorce and in the cases of out of wedlock. There are court decisions and implementation of the law where in 94% of the cases the ENTIRE custody and the ENTIRE care is given only to one of the two parents.

In Greece when we refer to divorce we mean that the court decision leaves usually the father devoid of any active involvement in the decisions about daily life of the child. What is most common practice is to render father to a first and third weekend visitor and maybe visit the child for some hours during the week. The majority of court decisions allows father some time during Christmas, Easter and summer holidays with the child.

As far as the child is concerned, the only thing in Greece that remains in common after divorce for the two parents is parental authority. Parental authority according to Greek judicial practice refers to judicial representation, property and serious health issues related to the child. For cases out of wedlock things are even worse since fathers are denied parental authority which may be granted to them after application to court of justice and with the mother’s consent naturally.

It is clear that Greece suffers from great prejudice according to court decisions and not equal treatment of both men and women as parents by the state. Court decisions show a) favouritism for a specific sex of parent and b) discriminations against the child and the parents, thus creating social inequalities and exclusion. These court decisions do not apply to Greek family modern times and everyday life. On the contrary, these decisions are enhanced by tradition or even by current legislation which has become ipso facto obsolete.

Not to mention that after divorce similar and very important issues arouse in all aspects of life. Such issues are: parental alienation by using a) false accusations, b) distant relocation on false pretences and c) breach of family court decisions pending no serious consequences because of the great delay of Greek courts in dispensing justice. Delay may reach 5-7 years while it may even reach 10 years thanks to several law tricks by lawyers. Thus the right of communication for the parent who does not have child custody is abolished. Often issues of financial structure arise. The court decisions do not follow the actual income of taxpayers since they rely on hypothetical income. 

Child protection mechanisms do not exist or are sketchy since there are no judicial social services. Even though the Juvenile Public Prosecutor does his best to protect the children in fact he has no juristiction and no supporting expert services. These services have been decided upon since 1996 but nothing has been done since to get them going. 

Greece is not the right place for anyone to get a divorce. Most articles of the Declaration of Children’s Rights of the United Nations are breached by the Greek state either through court decisions or by not implementing the articles of the declaration which refer to joint parenting. 

Your initiative is important since it creates a communication platform between organizations of member states of E.E. that focus on the specific issue making our task useful and imperative in order to form common practice and common proposals for the purpose of child joint custody regardless the parents’ family status. 

It’s a fact that every state has developed different law practices and in some cases even different terminology. In Greece, GON.IS. have already developed and promote good practice relevant to child joint custody and care. So far this may be applied only with the consent of both parents, while it should have been imposed by the state and the courts as rule of justice and not as an exception that may be imposed only in case both parents agree upon. 

It is our strong belief that the child’s best interest is to have both parents regardless family status and this need of the child should be top priority not only for the state when deciding for the child, but for the parents’ decisions as well. Parents’ interests and expectations should always come second. 

SUGGESTIONS-PROPOSALS 

Our proposal is to create a coordinating committee with our organizations aiming for joint custody and joint care in order to compose after discussion a common proposal of all organizations, addressed to a)national parliaments and b) relevant committees of member states of E.U. related to E.U. parliament. This proposal includes child joint custody and joint care applied with specific ways, obligations and rights of parents and the state and the impose with a directive of a common amendment of laws for all member states regardless national law that applies for every member state of E.U.. In this way, there will be relevant common practice for the judicial system for every citizen of E.U.. The implementation of articles 9 and 18 of the U.N. Child Declaration and the best interest of the child to have both its parents is a prerequisite. 

We propose the formation of a study committee for the study of the international declaration of Hague for the Human Rights and the Children’s Rights Declaration of U.N. relevant with the relocation of the child with one of its parents a) within the member state of E.U., b) in other member states of E.U. and c) in countries outside E.U.. It is probable that the two declarations contain contradicting articles (for example article 5 a of Hague declaration and articles 9 and 18 of U.N. declaration). Our goal is to come up with a common proposal and promote it to appropriate national and international forums in order to avoid in the future alienation from one parent due to relocation of the other parent with the child. We have already submitted a similar proposal to the Greek state. 

At your disposal for any clarification and cooperation. 

www.gonis.org.gr ,info@gonis.org.gr