Biologinės ir faktinės tėvystės santykio problema ir vaiko teisės

Abstract

One of the most important arguments of a sound paternity protection is a certainty of the paternity fact, i.e. identity of the paternity. Law seems to confront with quite a problem in transforming identity implications of an individual into a legal reality. In the present article the author raises and tries to ground a hypothesis that some provisions of the Lithuanian Civil Code in regard to identifying a child’s origin infix an exceptional biologic (genetic) reality point in forming legal „parent-child“ relations and are too static. Therefore, there exists a danger of their nonconformity to a continuously changing social reality as well as to human rights standards. In the author’s estimation, these provisions need to be reviewed and new regulation models based on human rights need to be applied. Such regulation must be oriented towards a balance of interests of all persons concerned, which means it must not exclusively reflect predominance of a biologic (genetic) reality, but its relation with a social (actual) reality and a child’s rights. The analysis of application practices of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is aimed at clearance of objective human rights criteria of a parent-child relation in the field of legal protection, which could become a guidance for improvement of an institution defining a child’s origin as well as for forming uniform court practices.