Katre Luhamaa

• Doctor of Philosophy (law)
• Lecturer at University of Tartu

National and international legal frameworks promise to respect, protect and provide children with individual rights and ensure through these rights the protection of their well-being, thereby directly influencing the actions taken by others concerning the child. While children typically engage with the legal system indirectly, often represented by...

Estonia is a civil law country with codified legislation and strong Germanic influences. The primary source of law is statutory law, whereas case law from the Supreme Court is binding for practical purposes, especially in cases where no explicit statutory provision exists. Scholarly writing and explanatory notes are important interpretive tools but...

A thorough and fundamental reorganisation of the Estonian judicial system and replacement of judges took place in 1987–1993. The judicial system of the Estonian SSR was part of the repressive communist state power, with the courts’ independence being very limited: the courts in Estonia were subject to the control of the USSR’s courts, and the law w...

A child’s right to participate is one of the general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child ( crc ). It is an integral part of a child’s right to have his/her best interest taken into account as a primary consideration. Therefore, it is indispensable in the decision-making connected with child welfare removals, the effects of which...

European countries have a legal obligation to provide services to vulnerable families, and children must not be removed from their parents’ care unless no other viable measures are available. This paper examines whether and how eight jurisdictions provide necessary support and services to families with newborn babies who are considered to be at ris...

European countries have a legal obligation to provide services to vulnerable families, and children must not be removed from their parents’ care unless no other viable measures are available. This paper examines whether and how eight jurisdictions provide necessary support and services to families with newborn babies who are considered to be at ris...

Estonia’s legal system is generally regarded as very accepting of international (human-rights) law, with treaties in this domain and associated supervisory practice being implemented directly by national courts. The article analyses whether this extends to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the recommendations of the CRC Committee...

Participation is one of the basic rights of the child, which includes participation in juridical decision-making processes that affect the life of the child; however, considering the complexity of judicial proceedings such as child welfare removal and the peculiarities connected to a child as a vulnerable human being in his/her developmental proces...

This paper examines what set of familial circumstances allow for the justifiable interference with the right to respect for family life under Article 8, echr. We analyse all the Courts’ judgments on adoptions from care to find out what the Court means by a “family unit” and the “child´s best interest”. Our analysis show that the status and respect...

Participation is one of the basic rights of the child, which includes participation in juridical decision-making processes that affect the life of the child; however, considering the complexity of judicial proceedings such as child welfare removal and the peculiarities connected to a child as a vulnerable human being in his/her developmental proces...

The report compares the Norwegian child protection system (CPS) with the child protection systems in five countries that are known critics of the Norwegian CPS and vocal in the public debate. The five countries are the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Russia. The main goal of the report is to present quality assured information about...

How accountable are decisions about terminating parental rights to ensure an adoption from care? In this paper we examine if the proceedings in eight European jurisdictions are accountable to: a) the private parties, i.e. individuals that are concerned – such as parents, child; b) the general public that authorized the politicians and the governmen...

How accountable are decisions about terminating parental rights to ensure an adoption from care? In this paper we examine if the proceedings in eight European jurisdictions are accountable to: a) the private parties, i.e. individuals that are concerned – such as parents, child; b) the general public that authorized the politicians and the governmen...

Professional competence of child representatives in child removal proceedings: findings from Estonia

Universality of international human rights is a mainstream argument in international law. The ultimate aim of this dissertation is to analyse the interpretation and implementation of selected children’s rights in three states: Estonia, Finland, and Russia (hereinafter ‘the states’ or ‘the three states’). In particular, whether significant differenc...