Annotation:
In E.S., the Court confirmed its previous
decisions in Bevacqua and Opuz by holding
that State failures to protect women and
children from domestic violence can
violate Articles 3 (freedom from inhuman
and degrading treatment) and 8 (respect
for private and family life) of the
European Convention on Human Rights. E.S.,
who was recently divorced from her husband
and had obtained legal custody of their
children, filed a criminal complaint
against her husband stating that he had
mistreated both her and the children, and
had sexually abused one of their
daughters. She requested interim measures
ordering her husband to move out of the
flat in which they were joint tenants. The
courts denied her request, finding that it
did not have the power to restrict the
husbands right to use his property. E.S.
was consequently required to move away
with the children. Though the property
interests were eventually severed, the
fact that domestic law prevented E.S. from
obtaining protection when she needed it
was found to be in violation of the
Convention. In finding that the Convention
had been violated, the Court stated that
the domestic authorities failed to protect
the applicant and her children from ill
treatment, and also failed to meet their
positive obligations to respect the family
and private lives of the applicants.