Da Mihi Elimo Sinam Propter Amorem Dei. The Double-edged ECtHR Lăcătuş Judgment on Criminalisation of Begging

Abstract

The numerous laws aiming at suppressing and prohibiting begging and vagrancy have followed one on top of the other through time to the present, raising important concerns in light of fundamental rights. However, it is only very recently that the question of the criminalisation of beggars appeared for the first time before the European Court of Human Rights in the Lăcătuş case. In this note, I argue that despite the fact that the Lăcătuş judgment will have far-reaching consequences for how poor people are protected under fundamental rights, it leaves open important questions regarding the rights of beggars not only as regards what it ambiguously ruled under the right to private and family life, but also as regards what it refused to examine under the freedom of expression and the prohibition of discrimination.

Keywords: begging, criminalisation of poverty, right to private and family life, freedom of expression, discrimination, vulnerability