Family law

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey must pay a fine of 2,720 euros for its refusal to allow a single mother to have her forename entered on the personal documents of her adopted son, in place of the child?s biological mother.

Lebanese laws and courts governing marriage and child custody "discriminate against women" from all religious groups, often trapping them in abusive unions, a Human Rights Watch report published Jan. 19 said.
      

The head of a conservative foundation in Turkey has stirred outrage after suggesting that children as young as six-years-old could marry other children or adults, with a number of NGOs and opposition lawmakers preparing to file a complaint for his remarks.

The government has unveiled a new incentive program to encourage working women to have more children, in a bid to avoid the decline of the Turkish population.

UNICEF's representative in Romania, Sandie Blanchet, believes that children's rights become reality not through statements, but through sustained political commitment.

Planned changes to the system of maternity leave payments, promoted last week by the State Health Insurance Fund, FZOM, called "Speedy Payment of Maternity Leave", will encourage discrimination against women at the workplace, rights activists say.

Six Bulgarian nationals face charges of running an illegal adoption ring after police in Evia and Athens were able to stop one of the members from going through with the illegal adoption of two babies and an older child.

Civil society organizations and parties demonstrated around Turkey to protest the imminent adoption of a motion

Seven suspected members of a cross-border racket alleged to have mediated in the sale of babies from Bulgaria to childless couples from Greece faced a prosecutor in Trikala, central Greece, on Wednesay.

Advent International and a Bulgarian-Russian consortium headed by businessman Denis Barekov are reportedly the key bidders for nationalized Austrian bank Hypo Alpe Adria.

The bank, which Austria nationalized in 2009 to prevent its collapse, is to sell its Balkan network by mid-2015 at the behest of the EU Commission.