Italy’s constitutional court has ruled that parents may opt to give their children either the mother or the father’s surname, or both. The practice of automatically giving a child the father’s surname is a violation of the mother’s rights. The European Court of Human Rights had found in Cusan and Fazzo v. Italy (2014) that the Italian law violated Article 14 (taken together with Article 8) of the European Convention on Human Rights which requires equal treatment of persons without regard to sex.
Text of Article 14:
The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this European Convention on Human Rights shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.
