Журнал гражданских и юридических наук

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Anonymous Birth, Birth Registration and the Child's Right to Know Their Origins in the Italian Legal System: a Short Comment

Valentina Colcelli

The paper aims to investigate the relationship of interaction between the mother’s right to remain anonymous and the newborn’s right to know his/her own origin in the Italian legal system. The “Decreto del Presidente della Republica” of November, 3, 2000, n. 396, allows the mother the right to be unmentioned in the Birth Certificate. The problem of the compatibility of the mother’s right to remain anonymous and the child’s to know his/her own origins was analysed by the Italian Constitutional Court in comparison with the European Convention of Human Rights. This analysis introduces that none of the interests and rights mentioned above (child’s right to know his/her origins and mother’s right to remain anonymous) should be regarded as absolute, and suggests ways in which they can be balanced against each other.