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The Permanent Bureau is pleased to announce the publication of the HCCH 2025 Annual Report. 

Throughout the past year, the HCCH continued to advance its legislative work and to promote the effective operation of its Conventions, successfully convening the meetings of four Experts’ Group and six Working Groups. Other notable highlights included the establishment of a new Experts’ Group on Digital Tokens and a new Experts’ Group on Carbon Markets to work on private international law issues related to these fields, the publication of the fifth editions of Service and Evidence Handbooks, as well as the organisation of the Second Forum on Domestic Violence and the 1980 Child Abduction Convention – with a focus on the operation of Article 13(1)(b), the conference “15 Years of the HCCH Washington Declaration: Progress and Perspectives on International Family Relocation”, HCCH a|Bridged – Edition 2025 (which focused on the 2019 Judgments Convention), and HCCH Asia Pacific Week, among many other events. 

In parallel with these and other developments, in 2025 the HCCH network continued to expand. Rwanda became the 92^nd Member of the HCCH, Guatemala and Qatar were admitted by affirmative vote and invited to become Members, and Indonesia applied for Membership. There were also 19 new signatures, accessions, or ratifications of HCCH Conventions and instruments, which continue to attract international interest.  

Presenting the Annual Report at the opening session of the 2026 meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy, Dr Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General of the HCCH, thanked the HCCH Members and Contracting Parties for their support and contributions to the successes of the past year. 

The 2025 Annual Report is available for download in English, French, and Spanish.