Konceptualizacija prava na državljanstvo u jurisprudenciji Europskog suda za ljudska prava

The notion of citizenship rests on the cleavage between national and international law as a matter predominantly shaped by state's internal acts, in accordance with limits determined by the state's interrelations with other states and rules of international law. The respective dichotomy generates further branching of the notional structure, making it multilayered, multidimensional and fluid. The simplified definition of citizenship conceptualises it as a real and effective link between the state and an individual, however, in social reality the notion transcends the respective formal perception and interferes with conceptions of identity, belonging and sentiments. With the aim of positioning citizenship within the domain of contemporary international human rights protection, this paper focuses on the analysis of jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights which has in several of its recent judgments provided for an original interpretation of the right to citizenship, subsuming it under the ambit of Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on the right to private and family life. Although Conventional norms do not grant the right to citizenship expressis verbis, an insight into three judgments (Genovese v. Malta, Mennesson v. France and Jeunesse v. the Netherlands) demonstrates that the Court's innovative interpretation of Article 8 has proved that flexible notions of private and family life are comparable enough with citizenship to embrace the aspects of a person's social identity which make up the essence of the concept of citizenship.