아동의 최선의 복리와 친권의 제한에 관한 유럽인권재판소 판결의 검토- LOBBEN AND OTHERS v. NORWAY 판결을 중심으로 -

The best interest of the child doctrine in ‘parental rights’ and ‘adoption’ proceedings has long been hailed in Korea as the primary guide for any ‘deprivation of the parental rights’ decision. Furthermore, art. 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires member states to observe the “best interests of the child as a primary consideration in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies.” There are many provisions of the Korean Civil Law on the restriction system of the parental rights such as ‘temporary termination of parental rights’, ‘Decision of the Court replacing the Parent’s Consent‘ and ‘declaration of partial limitations of parental rights’, etc. . However, I wonder whether the best interest of the child doctrine operates well in practice, and local authority and social welfare board can intervene between children and parents in current law. In this regard, LOBBEN case is full of suggestions. Firstly, the local authority can intervene in a dispute for the best interest of the child earlier than the court. Secondly, the local social welfare board can deprive parental rights from parents and give consent persons to adopt a child without the court’s decision. Finally, nonetheless, the Norwegian courts allowed the local authorities to do the setps stated above for the best interest of the child.