Chairs:

• Jairo Rivera Sierra jairoriveraabogado@gmail.com
• Yadira Elena Alarcón Palacio yadialarcon@gmail.com
• Jorge Parra Benitez parralva81@gmail.com
• Jinyola Blanco Rodríguez jinyola.blanco@gmail.com

Contemporary Family Law is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, driven by Constitutional Supremacy and, fundamentally, by the integration of International Human Rights Law. This evolution is evident in the shift from protecting the singular, traditional family (based on marriage) to recognizing diverse family forms (cohabiting couples, same-sex families, single-parent families, etc.) and ensuring full equality in parentage.

This panel provides a platform for scholars and experts from around the world to share their experiences on how the constitutionalization of Family Law is impacting domestic legislation in their countries. We aim to establish a comparative dialogue on the various realities of the Constitutional Block or Normative Hierarchy across different legal systems: How is the Constitution applied in Argentina, Germany, or Mexico to family law conflicts? Comparing domestic jurisprudence with supranational standards is vital to understanding how rulings from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, or other bodies are redefining concepts such as the autonomy of will and the best interests of the child, compelling our civil codes to evolve.

Your participation is essential for mapping global legal trends and the challenges posed by this interaction of normative sources. In Colombia, Family Law has undergone significant structural changes in recent decades. Family models have been addressed by the Constitutional Court in a reinterpretation of the scope of Article 42 of the Constitution. The new concept of family in Colombia has been particularly developed in Judgment C-577 of 2011, in which the high court refers to the determining elements of couples in Colombia and the different family models.