child was four years old and she was placed in institutional custody and that the author was in contact with the child until August 1999. In these circumstances, the Committee cannot but find that at the time when the authorities intervened, the author and her daughter formed a family within the meaning of article 17 of the Covenant. the conditions for access appended to that order, it was stated that the author should have supervised access to the child in the sole and absolute discretion of the CCAS. The access issue was not assessed by a judge until 21 December 1999 when the judge decided not to reinstate the author’s access to her daughter. Since then, the author’s access has not been reinstated. 8.3 In respect of the author’s claim that she unlawfully lost custody of and access to her child and that her family was destroyed, the Committee observes that the removal of a child from the care of his or her parent(s) constitutes interference in the parents’ and the child’s family. The issue thus arises whether or not such interference was arbitrary or unlawful and contrary to article 17. The Committee considers that in cases of child custody and access, the relevant criteria for assessing whether or not the specific interference with family life can be objectively justified must be considered, on the one hand, in light of the effective right of a parent and a child to maintain personal relations and regular contact with each other, and on the other hand, in the light of the best interests of the child.14 8.6 The Committee observes that the child repeatedly expressed the wish to go home, that she cried at the end of visits and that her psychologist recommended that access be reinstated. It considers that the conditions of access, which also excluded telephone contact, were very severe vis-à-vis a fouryear-old child and her mother. The fact that the author and the foster mother had an argument on the phone is not sufficient to justify the definitive termination of that contact between the author and her daughter. The Committee finds that the CCAS’ exercise of its power unilaterally to terminate access in December 1997 and August 1999, without a judge having reassessed the situation or the author having been given the opportunity to present a defence constituted arbitrary interference with the author and her daughter’s family, in violation of article 17 of the Covenant. 8.4 The Committee notes that the authorities’ initial removal of her daughter from the author’s care, on 2 August 1997, confirmed by a judicial order of 7 August placing her under the care of the CCAS, was based on their belief, later confirmed by the author’s conviction, that she had assaulted her child. The Committee notes that although the order was temporary (three months), it only granted the author access to her daughter under extremely harsh circumstances. It considers that the initial threemonth placement of the author’s daughter in the care of the CCAS was disproportionate. 8.7 With respect to the alleged violation of article 23, the Committee recalls its jurisprudence that the national courts are generally competent to evaluate the circumstances of individual cases. However, the law should establish certain criteria so as to enable the courts to apply the full provisions of article 23 of the Covenant. “It seems essential, except in exceptional circumstances, that these criteria should include the maintenance of personal relations and direct and regular contact between the child and parents.” 15 In the absence of such special circumstances, the Committee recalls that it cannot be deemed to be in the best interest of a child to eliminate altogether a parent’s access to him or her.16 8.5 In relation to the author’s claims regarding the period commencing after the expiry of the threemonth period covered by the interim order of 7 August 1997 up to the trial in May 2000, the Committee notes that the CCAS kept the child in its care. According to the order of 7 August 1997, the author was to have access to her daughter, although under very strict conditions. Following the author’s “abduction” of her daughter on 1 December 1997 and her conviction in April 1998, the author was denied access. She did not regain access until June 1999, also under very harsh conditions, as a result of an order of 17 May 1999 reinstating access. For instance, the author and her daughter were allowed to meet only in the CCAS’ premises, every third week for 90 minutes. The visits were fully supervised by CCAS employees. The author was not allowed to telephone her daughter. The CCAS again terminated access on its own initiative, while the order for access of 17 May 1999 was still in force. In 8.8 In the present case, the judge, during the child protection trial of 2000, considered that “there were no special circumstances demonstrated which would justify the continuation of access in these circumstances”, instead of examining the issue whether there were exceptional circumstances justifying terminating access, thereby reversing the perspective under which such issues should be considered. Given the need to ensure family bonds, it is essential that any proceedings which have an impact on the family unit deal with the question of whether the family bonds should be broken, keeping in mind the best interests of the child and of the 15 Communication No. 201/1985, Hendriks v. The Netherlands, Views adopted on 27 July 1988, para. 10.4. Communication No. 514/1992, Fei v. Colombia, Views adopted on 4 April 1995, para. 8.10. 14 16 See communication No. 946/2000, L.P. v. Czech Republic, Views adopted on 25 July 2002, para. 7.3. 82