The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Poland violated a child’s rights by refusing to register a British birth certificate naming two women as the child’s parents, saying the decision left the child unable to obtain Polish identity documents and in legal uncertainty.
The case concerns a minor identified as R.P., born in the United Kingdom and a Polish citizen from birth. The applicants were the child, his biological mother, A.P., and her partner, E.K., both Polish citizens. The family lived in Northampton, spoke Polish at home, and maintained frequent ties with Poland.
The dispute began in 2015 when the family asked the Civil Registry Office in Myszków to register the British birth certificate. The document listed the biological mother’s partner in the place reserved for the father. Polish authorities rejected the request on public order grounds.
Under Polish law, a child’s mother is the woman who gave birth and the father must be a man, regardless of how paternity is established. Officials therefore said a birth certificate listing two women as parents could not be registered. Polish courts later upheld that decision, finding the document conflicted with fundamental principles of the country’s legal order.
The ECHR reached a different conclusion. The Strasbourg judges found that Poland had violated the child’s right to respect for private life and the prohibition of discrimination, while rejecting the family’s other complaints. They said the authorities had failed to properly assess the child’s best interests or the consequences of refusing to register the certificate.
The court noted that the child had strong ties to Poland and that the refusal prevented him from obtaining Polish identity documents, leaving him in legal uncertainty. It awarded him €5,000 in non-pecuniary damages.
The judgment did not recognise a violation of the mothers’ rights, finding that the family had continued to enjoy family life in the United Kingdom despite the refusal.
The court also declared inadmissible a second application brought by another lesbian couple and their daughter. In that case, the family had weaker links to Poland, had always lived in Britain, and had not shown that the refusal caused sufficiently serious practical difficulties.
The ruling again raises the question of how far the Strasbourg court should be able to influence national family law. Poland argued that its decision reflected fundamental principles of its legal system, while the ECHR held that, in this case, the child’s inability to obtain Polish identity documents outweighed those concerns. The judgment is not yet final and may still be referred to the court’s Grand Chamber.
