Italy found guilty by the ECHR of violating Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR in a landmark case of domestic and sexual violence

On 2 July 2026, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in Ubeda and Others v. Italy, a case in which I represented Ms Ubeda and her two minor children.

The Court found that the Italian authorities had:

  • failed to conduct an effective investigation into allegations of domestic and sexual violence;
  • allowed the criminal proceedings to be affected by excessive delays;
  • relied on serious sexist stereotypes during the handling of the case (among which “It is normal for men to have to overcome a certain amount of resistance that all women tend to show when they are worn out by everyday life and a man makes sexual advances towards them”) ;
  • failed to adopt adequate protective measures against the alleged perpetrator;
  • kept the mother and her children in a protection shelter for more than three years without adequately reassessing the necessity and proportionality of that measure;
  • shown unjustified inertia in the child custody and parental responsibility proceedings.

The Court held that Italy had violated Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and reaffirmed that States must respond to domestic violence allegations promptly, effectively and free from gender stereotypes.

This judgment is an important addition to the Court’s case-law on the protection of victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and secondary victimisation.