The latest international parental child abduction laws. International parental child abduction is an act of illegally taking a child from their home. Usually by one of the parents, but it can also be done by an acquaintance or another member of the family, and taking him to another county. In most cases this practice is illegal as it breacheslegal custodial rights.
International Parental Child Abduction Laws
The largest legal problem in cases of international parental child abduction is the conflict of laws within different countries. International Parental Child Abduction Laws are different laws in different countries. This might (almost certainly) result in conflicting custodial decisions. This results in limited access to one half of the child’s family. Furthermore resulting in severe psychological and emotional trauma for both the child and the part of the family abandoned. The parent of the abducted child also has to deal with a great deal of emotional trauma as well as considerable financial costs needed to locate the abducted child and to try to bring the child back home.
1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
The first legal document to deal with the problem of the international child abduction was the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. 92 countries of the world are party to this Convention that put it rather clearly how to deal withsuch cases. The first goal of the Convention is to preserve the custodial arrangement that existed before the alleged abduction took place. Secondly the Convention seeks to resolve whatever dispute as quickly as possible. They also stipulates that the judicial or administrative authority concerned should reach a decision expeditiously. Therefore at most within six weeks. If the decision is not reached within six weeks, the applicant has the right to request a statement of the reasons for the delay.
Legal Problems International Parental Child Abductions
The most recent effort to further tackle the legal problems that international parental child abductions pose is the 1996 Hague Convention on parental responsibility and protection of children. Unfortunately this comprehensive Convention only has 41 contractingcountries, while Belgium, Italy and the United States signed the convention, but did not ratify it.This particular Convention covers a much broader spectrum of civil measures for protecting children, so it is nice to see that the Convention is slowly gaining traction among other countries as well.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
A more universally accepted legal document that is referred to when it comes to international child abductions is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) from 1989.UNCRC was ratified by 187 countries, making it a truly universally accepted document concerning rights of children all over the world. Article 35 of UNCRCspecifically states “States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction, sale or traffic of children for any purpose or in any form.”
Countries That Have Ratified The Hague Convention For Return Of Child
In countries that have ratified all of these documents, the legal implications of parental child abductions are still many. They’re all fairly complicated. It is also a sad fact, that with the rising number of international marriages, international child abductions are on the rise. Despite the fact that there is more and more scientific evidence. Abduction proves that they’re truly harmful for the child involved.