Welcome to the Child Abduction Section

 

 Introduction

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.

Please note that the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference has no mandate to assist in individual abduction cases. If you have a question relating to international child abduction and your country is a Party to the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, please contact the Central Authority designated by your country.

 The Convention

 Explanatory documents 

• Explanatory Report drawn up by Ms E. Pérez Vera
• Spanish translation of the Explanatory Report, made available by the Spanish Ministry of Justice
• Preparatory work, published in the Actes et documents de la Quatorzième session (1980), tome III, Child abduction
  

 Contracting States

• Status of signatures, ratifications and accessions  [ print version, including all declarations and reservations]
• Overview showing acceptances of accessions to the Convention
• United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo: Regulation No 2004/29 on Protection Against International Child Abduction

 Central Authorities

• Links to contact details of Central Authorities designated under Article 6 [ print version of all contact details]

 Guides to Good Practice

• Part I: Central Authority Practice - [Spanish version Part I] 
• Part II: Implementing Measures  - [Spanish version Part II]
• Part III: Preventive Measures  - [Spanish version Part III]
• Transfrontier Contact Concerning Children – General Principles and Guide to Good Practice - [Spanish version]
• Part IV: Enforcement of orders (in preparation - see Prel. Doc. No 6 and No 7 for the attention of the 2006 Special Commission meeting)

 INCADAT: the International Child Abduction Database 

• The Database
• Non-Hague Convention Child Abduction Home Page
• Inter-American Child Abduction Home Page
• INCADAT Correspondent Guide
• Reporting forms to submit judicial cases decided under the 1980 Convention

 iChild: the Electronic Case Management System for the Child Abduction Convention

• Introduction
• User Guide

 INCASTAT: International Child Abduction Statistics

• Information 
• Other statistics

 Non-Hague Convention Child Abductions

• Bilateral Arrangements:
• Australia – Egypt (2000) [English] [Arabic]
• Belgium – Morocco (1981) [Français]
• Belgium – Tunisia (1982) [Français]
• Canada – Egypt (1997) [English] [Français] [Arabic]
• Canada – Lebanon (2000) [English] [Français]
• France – Algeria (1988) [Français]  
• France – Egypt (1982) [Français] [Arabic]
• France – Lebanon (2000) [Français] 
• France – Morocco (1983) [Français] 
• France – Tunisia (1982) [Français] 
• Sweden – Egypt (1996) [English] [Arabic]
• Sweden – Tunisia (1997) [Français] 
• Switzerland – Lebanon (2005) [Français] [Arabic]
• USA – Egypt (2003) [English] [Arabic]
• Child Abduction and Transfrontier Access: Bilateral Conventions and Islamic States - a Research Paper (Prel. Doc. No 7 of August 2002)
• INCADAT – Non-Hague Convention Abduction Section
• The "Malta process":
• Third Judicial Conference on Cross-Frontier Family Law Issues, St. Julian's, March 2009
• Second Judicial Conference on Cross-Frontier Family Law Issues, St. Julian's, Malta, 19-22 March 2006 (Arabic version)
• Judicial Conference on Cross-frontier Family Law issues involving certain “Hague Convention” and “non-Hague Convention” States from the Islamic world, St. Julian’s, Malta, 14-17 March 2004 (Arabic version) (unofficial Spanish translation)
• The Judges' Newsletter on International Child Protection - Volume VIII / Autumn 2004 [Spanish version] [Arabic version]
• Transfrontier Contact Concerning Children – General Principles and Guide to Good Practice
• Guide to Good Practice Part III: Preventive Measures  - [Spanish version Part III]

 Special Commission meetings on the practical operation of the Convention (click here to view all practical operation documents)

• Conclusions and Recommendations
• Inter-American Expert Meeting on International Child Abduction, November 2006
• Special Commission of October-November 2006
• Special Commission of September-October 2002
• Special Commission of March 2001
• Special Commission of October 1989
• Reports
• Special Commission of October-November 2006
• Special Commission of March 1997
• Special Commission of January 1993
• Preliminary Documents

 Questionnaires and responses (click here to view all questionnaires and responses)

• Standard questionnaire for newly acceding States
• The Questionnaire [Spanish version]
• Responses from States having acceded:
  Armenia
  Brazil
  Bulgaria
  Dominican Republic
  Guatemala
  Honduras
  Latvia
  Lithuania
  Nicaragua
  Panama
  Peru
  San Marino
  Sri Lanka
  Thailand
  Trinidad and Tobago 
  Ukraine
• Responses from other States:
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Croatia
  
  
• 2006 Questionnaire concerning the practical operation of the Convention
• the Questionnaire  [Spanish translation]
• Individual responses to the 2006 Questionnaire
• Collated responses to the 2006 Questionnaire (Prel. Doc. No 2 of October 2006)
  
  
• 2004 Questionnaire on the Enforcement of Return Orders under the Convention and of Access / Contact Orders
• the Questionnaire  [Spanish translation]
• Responses to the 2004 Questionnaire 
  
  
• 2003 Questionnaire on preventive measures
• Background document
• Questionnaire
• Responses to the Questionnaire
• Responses to the Questionnaire - compilation document of 2003 
   
  
• 2002 Questionnaire concerning practical mechanisms for facilitating direct international judicial communications
• Questionnaire 
• Responses
  
  
• 2000 Questionnaire concerning the operation of the Convention
• Questionnaire
• Responses

 The International Hague Network of Judges

• List of members of the International Hague Network of Judges  

 Judicial Communications

• Conclusions and Recommendations of the Joint EC-HCCH Conference on Direct Judicial Communications on Family Law Matters and the Development of Judicial Networks, Brussels 15-16 January 2009
• Prel. Doc. No 8 of October 2006 - Report on judicial communications in relation to international child protection + Appendices
• Prel. Doc. No 6 of August 2002 - Practical Mechanisms for Facilitating Direct International Judicial Communications in the context of the Hague Child Abduction Convention - Preliminary Report + Annexes

 Judicial Seminars on the International Protection of Children

• The "Malta process":
• Working Party on Mediation - 29 October 2009 conference call, meeting report [English] [Arabic] 
• Working Party on Mediation - 30 July 2009 conference call, meeting report [English] [Arabic]
• Working Party on Mediation in the Context of the Malta Process - Responses to the Questionnaire
• Third Judicial Conference on Cross-Frontier Family Law Issues, St. Julian's, March 2009
• Second Judicial Conference on Cross-Frontier Family Law Issues, St. Julian's, Malta, 19-22 March 2006 (Arabic version)
• Judicial Conference on Cross-frontier Family Law issues involving certain “Hague Convention” and “non-Hague Convention” States from the Islamic world, St. Julian’s, Malta, 14-17 March 2004 (Arabic version) (unofficial Spanish translation)
  
  
• Latin America:
• Second Meeting of Government Experts. Inter-American Program of Cooperation for the Prevention and Remedy of Cases of International Abduction of Children by one of their Parents, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 19-21 September 2007:
• Report of Round Table 1 - Conventions
• Report of Round Table 2 - Central Authorities
• Report of Round Table 3 -  Model rules of procedure for the international return of children
• Conclusions
• Latin American Judges’ Seminar: The Hague Children’s Conventions and Cross-Border Protection of Children within Latin America, The Hague, Netherlands, 28 November-3 December 2005 (English-Spanish)
• Latin American Judges' Seminar on the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, 1-4 December 2004 (Spanish version)
  
  
• Africa:
• Judicial Seminar for French-speaking African Countries on the principal Hague Conventions on International Child Protection, International Judicial and Administrative Co-operation and International Litigation, The Hague, 27-31 August 2007
• Judicial Seminar on International Co-operation and the Protection of Children in the Southern and Eastern African Region, The Hague, 3-6 September 2006
• Anglo-Egyptian Congress, London, England, 19-20 January 2004   
  
  
• Other Judicial Seminars:
  • International Judicial Conference on Cross-border Family Relocation, Washington D.C., 23-25 March 2010
  • International Symposium on Child Abduction, Berlin 4 December 2009 (Chairman's Statement)
  • Judges' Seminar on the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction - Conclusions, Noordwijk, 19-22 October 2003 (Deutsch) (Español)
  • United Kingdom-Pakistan Judicial Conference on Child and Family Law, London, England, 15-17 January 2003 (Español)
  • Judicial Seminar on the International Protection of Children, De Ruwenberg, 20-23 October 2001 (Deutsch) (Español)
  • Francophone-Anglophone Family Law Judicial Conference, Dartington Hall, England, 4-7 June 2001
  • Common Law Judicial Conference on International Parental Child Abduction, Washington, D.C., 17-21 September 2000: "Best Practices" to improve operation of the Child Abduction Convention
  • Third United Kingdom-German Conference on Family Law, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2000
  • Judicial Seminar on the International Protection of Children, De Ruwenberg, 3-6 June 2000
  • Judicial Seminar on the International Protection of Children, De Ruwenberg, 22-25 June 1998

 The Hague Project for International Co-operation and the Protection of Children

• Background document

  The Judges' Newsletter on International Child Protection

• Volume XVI / Spring 2010
• Volume XV / Autumn 2009
• Volume XIV / Winter 2008-2009
• Volume XIII / Winter 2007-2008
• Volume XII / Spring-Summer 2007 [Spanish version]
• Volume XI / 2006 [Spanish version]
• Volume X / Autumn 2005 [Spanish version]
• Volume IX / Spring 2005 [Spanish version]
• Volume VIII / Autumn 2004 [Spanish version] [Arabic version]
• Volume VII / Spring 2004
• Volume VI / Autumn 2003
• Volume V / Spring 2003 [Spanish version]
• Volume IV / Summer 2002
• Volume III / Autumn 2001
• Volume II / Autumn 2000
• Volume I / Spring 1999

 International Centre for Judicial Studies and Technical Assistance

 Bibliography 

 Links to related websites

 Latest updates on this website with regard to the Child Abduction Convention