What is Child Abduction?

Child Abduction is the offense of wrongfully removing or wrongfully retaining, detaining or concealing a child or baby. Abduction is defined as taking away a person by persuasion, by fraud, or by open force or violence. There are two types of child abduction: parental child abduction and abduction by a stranger. Parental child abductions are the most common type.

When one parent abducts his/her child(ren) from the other parent it is often during or after a divorce action and is meant to circumvent the court or act in defiance of a court order regarding legal custody of the child(ren). Parental child abductions may occur within the same city, within the same state, country, or internationally.

Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is a multilateral treaty, which seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return. The “Child Abduction Section” provides information about the operation of the Convention and the work of the Hague Conference in monitoring its implementation and promoting international co-operation in the area of child abduction.

• International Child Abduction – AustraliaThe International Child Abduction News is a newsletter which aims to provide coverage of recent developments in international parental child abduction. The News is produced in the International Family Law Section of the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department. The purpose of the News is to provide general information and not legal advice. Every care is taken in the preparation of the News but readers are advised to check the details of any legislation, cases or other material in it.
• International Child Abduction Database (INCADAT)The International Child Abduction Database (INCADAT) has been established by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference with the object of making accessible many of the leading decisions taken by national courts in respect of the 1980 Hague Convention. INCADAT is used by judges, Central Authorities, legal practitioners, researchers and others interested in this rapidly developing branch of law. INCADAT has already contributed to the promotion of mutual understanding and good practice, essential elements in the effective operation of the 1980 Convention.
• International Child Abduction Remedies Act (Icara)Establishes procedures to implement the Hague Abduction Convention; empowers state and federal courts to hear cases under the Convention and allows the Central Authority access to information in certain America records regarding the location of a child and an abducting parent
• International Child Abduction WebsitesLinks to central authorities in several countries designated under the 1980 Child Abduction Convention.
• Latin America: Hague Convention and ArgentinaThe Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was ratified by Argentina effective June 1, 1991. The Central Authority for the Convention in Argentina is the Dirección General de Asuntos Jurídicos-Dirección de Asistencia Judicial Internacional of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Commerce and Worship.
• Latin American Judges’ Seminar on the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child AbductionSpecial issue of the Judges Newsletter.

• Child Abduction: Case Management in Practice – UKMiscellaneous practical issues confront practitioners in disputes where there is a risk of child abduction, or it has already occurred.
• Divorce and parental responsibility mutual recognition of family law decisions throughout the EUThe new Regulation contains certain rules on child abduction. It aims at dissuading child abduction within the Community by ensuring that the courts of the Member State of the child’s residence before the abduction have the final say to decide where the child shall stay. Moreover, the Regulation complements and reinforces the system created by the The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on child abduction by imposing stricter obligations to assure the prompt return of a child in cases of child abduction between Member States.
• Implications of European Union Regulation on Hague Convention On International Child AbductionIn the European Union (E.U.), a community composed of multicultural and multiethnic societies, where citizens move freely across borders, the abduction of children is a growing problem. Frequently, abductions occur among E.U. citizens, residents of a particular Member State, who decide either to wrongfully remove or illegally retain a child in the territory of another E.U. Member State.
• International Child Abduction and Custody Act – MaltaThe Child Abduction and Custody Act (Cap 410) was adopted by Parliament to ratify the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980) and the European Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Concerning Custody and on Restoration of Custody of Children (1980).
• Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on the Hague Convention on International Child AbductionIn recent years the European Court of Human Rights has decided quite a significant number of cases and this has certainly helped improve one of the weaknesses of the Convention – the lack of clarity about how return orders are to be enforced. The Court has also added weight to the duties on Central Authorities in Article 7 of the Hague Convention, to the requirement of acting expeditiously in Article 11 and reinforced the significance of the prohibition on deciding custody rights before a return order in Article 16.

• Child Abduction – TaiwanTaiwan is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Hague Convention is by far the most significant international treaty pertaining to the prevention of international child abduction. Indeed, at least 74 countries are party to the Convention, including the United States. The failure of a country to become a party to the Convention sends an extremely strong signal that the country’s legal institutions will not cause an abducted child to be returned to her habitual residence.
• Child Protection Policy Unit – Hong KongThe Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance, Cap. 512, was enacted in 1997 to give effect in Hong Kong to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction signed in October 1980. CPPU is responsible for coordinating all requests from the Central Authorities, i.e. Secretary for Justice, for assistance in handling abduction cases in which a child has been wrongfully retained or removed from custodial care or his/her habitual place of residence.
• Law in Singapore on Child AbductionThis article analyses the approach taken by Singapore’s criminal and family laws when a child is taken away by one parent without consent of the other parent to another jurisdiction. International efforts to ameliorate the difficulties faced by the left-behind parent in tracing the whereabouts of the child and obtaining his or her return come in the form of the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
• Parental Abduction in JapanIn international parental abduction cases brought to court, Japan claims that parental abduction is not a crime. Courts up to the Supreme Court of Japan routinely refuse to return children to foreign parents with legal custody already ordered by foreign courts. Foreign courts in the country the children were living at the time the Japanese parent abducted them. Thus the Japanese government believes that its own citizens should be allowed to abduct children from other countries with impunity.
• The Berlin Commitment for Children of Europe and Central AsiaRecognising that considerable progress has been achieved during the past decade in fulfilling the rights of the child throughout Europe and Central Asia, in particular with regard to commitments taken at the 1990 World Summit for Children and the obligations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, universally ratified by countries of Europe and Central Asia.
• Why the Child Abduction Protocol Negotiations Should Not Deflect Singapore from Acceding to the 1980 Hague Abduction ConventionPresently, there are active negotiations concerning the creation of a ChildAbduction Protocol between Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and New Zealand. Although signing up to this proposed Protocol would be an important step for Singapore in combating international parental child abduction, it is argued in this article that it should not be regarded as a substitute for Singapore acceding to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980. The article draws on a study made at the Singapore Family Registry in 2006 and makes a statistical comparison between those cases and those made under the Hague Abduction Convention in 2003.

• Childabduction.EUWe dedicate ourselves to recovering internationally abducted children. International child abduction generally concerns a child who has been taken by one parent away from the other. Sometimes it concerns a child who has been taken by grandparents, family members or others, away from the parent(s). That child has been then taken – without authorisation or against existing agreements – to a foreign country. You can also talk of international child abduction if the child is not brought back or returned home on time.
• Committee for Missing ChildrenThe first phase of our mission deals with parent advocacy. We want to ensure that parents of missing and abducted children receive all the help they deserve and that the rights of parents are protected. Today there are no laws that give a parent control over the search for their own children.
• European Parliament Mediator for International Parental Child AbductionThe post of the European Parliament Mediator for International Parental Child Abduction was created in 1987 on the initiative of Lord Plumb, in order to help children from binational marriages that have broken down who have been abducted by one or other parent.
• International Centre Centre for Missing & Exploited ChildrenIn April 2003, the International Centre Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC)and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law entered into a formal partnership to focus on the following strategies to bring about positive changes for the benefit of children and families.
• National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenThe National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) mission is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; help find missing children; and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
• Prevent International Parental Child AbductionPrevent International Parental Child Abduction (PIPCA) was formed by Teresa Lauderdale, Cathy Brown, and Nina Lauderdale to help protect children from international parental child abduction, and to increase awareness of the tragedy of international abduction and of preventive measures that can be ordered by a Court when a child is at risk of abduction. PIPCA can assist in arranging training, expert testimony, and general advice on this issue.

Extracted From: HG.org