CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 12 janvier 1999

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sEB86A30B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s9FF10068 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s5CB9E8AB { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 2 January 1999 Karassev v. Finland (dec.) - 31414/96 Decision 12.1.1999 Article 8 Article 8-1 Respect for private life Denial of citizenship to a person born of foreign parents of uncertain citizenship: inadmissible   The applicant’s parents and brother, who were citizens of the former Soviet Union, went to Finland in August 1991 and applied for asylum following the attempted coup d’état in the Soviet Union. The authorities rejected their application, refused to grant them residence permits and later ordered their expulsion. The applicant was born in December 1992. The various attempts of the applicant’s family to have him recognised as a Finnish citizen or obtain residence permits were unsuccessful. The competent authorities asserted that the applicant’s parents had automatically acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation in February 1992, time of the entry into force of the Russian Citizenship Act. The applicant himself had thus obtained Russian citizenship by birth. The Russian Embassy certified on several occasions in 1996 and 1997 that pursuant to the same relevant Act none of the members of the applicant’s family had Russian citizenship. The Russian authorities declared in 1996 that they would not accept them back on their territory, their passports not being valid any more. The Citizenship Commission of the President of the Russian Federation, whose opinion was sought by the Finnish authorities through diplomatic channels, stated in 1997 that the family no longer had Russian citizenship as their ties with the Russian Federation had become looser after 5 years in Finland and they had not expressed the wish to restore them. The applicant was eventually registered by the authorities as resident in Finland but stateless, and his parents and brother were granted alien passports and temporary residence permits. The applicant did not ask for these documents as he was still claiming Finnish citizenship. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that he had not obtained Finnish citizenship since his parents had not lost citizenship of the Russian Federation at the time he was born. As far as social benefits are concerned, he was not registered at birth as being entitled to Finnish social security benefits, but was granted municipal day care from June 1996 and was entitled to a child allowance from May 1997. Inadmissible under Article 8: Even though the Convention and its Protocols do not guarantee any right to citizenship, it is not excluded that an arbitrary denial of citizenship may in certain circumstances raise issues under this provision given the impact such a denial may have on an individual’s private life. According to the Finnish Citizenship Act, a child born in Finland will receive Finnish citizenship if it does not receive by birth the citizenship of another country. The authorities found that the applicant had not received Finnish citizenship by birth since he had received Russian citizenship at birth through his parents. The Court concluded that this interpretation was not in contradiction with the opinion of the Citizenship Commission of the President of the Russian Federation and thus not arbitrary. As regards the threats that could have arisen from this denial, the applicant and his family are no longer threatened with expulsion; his parents and brother have residence permits and alien passports, and similar documents could be obtained for him.   Moreover, his mother now receives allowances, the applicant having been finally included in their assessment.   Even taking into account the fact that he did not enjoy benefits from the outset, it cannot be found that the consequences of the refusal to recognise him as a Finnish citizen could be considered as sufficiently serious to raise an issue under this provision: manifestly ill-founded.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes