Biao v. Denmark: Danish legislation on family reunion is discriminatory

Available in Russian


Abstract

Press Release issued by the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights 170 (2016) on 24 May 2016

This text is the Russian translation of the ECtHR Registry press-release on the Court’s Judgement in the case Biao v. Denmark. The case dealt with the complaint by a naturalised Danish citizen of Togolese origin, Ousmane Biao, and his Ghanaian wife that they could not settle in Denmark. In the judicial review of the application of the 28-year citizenship rule to Mr Biao and his wife, the Danish Supreme Court had found that the discrimination at issue had been based solely on the length of citizenship and that the consequences could not be considered disproportionate for Mr Biao, who had only been a Danish citizen for two years when he was refused family reunion. The Court, in conclusion, found that the Government had failed to show that there were compelling or very weighty reasons unrelated to ethnic origin to justify the indirect discriminatory effect of the 28-year rule. That rule favoured Danish nationals of Danish ethnic origin, and placed at a disadvantage, or had a disproportionately prejudicial effect on persons who acquired Danish nationality later in life and who were of ethnic origins other than Danish.

Citation: (2016) Biao protiv Danii: Datskoe zakonodatel'stvo o vossoedinenii sem'i priznano diskriminatsionnym: Press-reliz Sekretariata Evropeyskogo Suda po pravam cheloveka 170 (2016) ot 24 maya 2016 goda [Biao v. Denmark: Danish legislation on family reunion is discriminatory: Press Release issued by the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights 170 (2016) on24 May 2016]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, no. 2, pp. 25–29. (In Russian).