According to DOOR (Društvo za otroke, očetovstvu in resnice), the Association for Children, Fatherhood and Truth, Slovenia is violating several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including articles 6 and 8, which deal with the right to fair trial and the right to family life.
The group was helped by former Strasbourg judge Boštjan M. Zupančič, who came under fire earlier this year for remarks about abortion and French politician Simone Veil. Zupančič expects the lawsuit, which has been signed by 200 people, to end in a ruling that will "identify the problem".
The head of the association, Iztok Ivančič, labelled the Slovenian procedures of divorce discriminatory, corrupt, prolonged and unprofessional. He argued that in 90% of the cases mothers get custody after divorce.
Ivančič sees a major problem in out-of-court hearings of children, who are estranged from one of the parents and have been influenced by the other.
He thus believes that the part of the law which deals with these hearings is unconstitutional.
The association has already sent a petition, signed by nearly 900 people who see this as a problem, to the government, the judiciary and the social work centres.
Ivančič moreover noted that the association strived for a balanced contact of both parents with the children, because a child requires a balanced upbringing by a mother and a father for a healthy emotional and social development, and for the development of moral and behavioural values.
