International Parental Abduction Research Articles

The Hague Convention and Its Impact on Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights: An Indian Perspective

The aim of this article is to critically examine the universalisation of treaties such as the Hague Convention to highlight the tension it brings out between women’s rights and children’s rights by blindsiding gender-related issues and cultural realities. Written in the context of Ariha Shah in Germany and the Bhattacharya case in Norway, this article aims to map the landscape of international child abduction and repatriation attempts by parents in India, as well as the Indian legislative attempt to tackle the issue of abduction through the draft of the Civil Aspects of International Parental Abduction Bill, 2016 . Viewed critically through a child rights perspective, the article considers whether the positioning of the Abduction Bill from a feminist viewpoint does justice to the agency of children involved, and makes recommendations on how their position can be strengthened further.

Protecting the child’s best interest in international parental abduction of children: mediation in the 1980 Hague Convention cases

The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was the first binding international instrument to address the phenomenon of cross-border child abduction, which appeared as a side-effect of ongoing globalisation in the second half of the 20th century. The 1980 Hague Convention is undoubtedly the most successful and widespread instrument of direct cross-border cooperation between states to deal with the international child abduction. Nonetheless, the practical significance of this 40-year-old instrument is diminished by the fact that it allows only for a limited consideration of the specific situation of an individual child, whose careful consideration the present-day children’s rights approach, in particular the principle of the best interest of the child, otherwise dictates. International family mediation, carried out by a qualified cross-border family mediator, can nevertheless address some of the major downsides of the mandatory return mechanism. The paper explores how in the 1980 Hague Convention cases the child’s best interest can be secured through international family mediation.

International Parental Abduction, A Study of Foreign & Domestic Laws with Judicial Decisions on Cross Border Child Disputes.

This research focuses on complex questions of law relating to family disputes furthermore specifically the complex problem of custody of children, which nowadays have increased due to the transnational migration and transnational families . Such disputes raise a large range of questions of laws in different jurisdictions having different criteria's and interpretations which results in prolonged custody disputes which may lead to child abduction. The paper further looks into the foremost convention on the said subject being The Hague Convention on The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the paper emphasizes on the jurisdictional related questions and their enforcement. In the next part of the paper, we look into the principles propounded by the Indian judiciary, the present laws and the legislative steps taken to tackle the problem.

International Parental Child Abduction: An Explorative Analysis of Legal Standards and Judicial Interpretation in India

This article gives an explorative analysis of legal landscapes of international child abduction by parents in India. The international child abduction cases typically involve couples in failed matrimonial relationships, where one parent unilaterally takes the child back to his or her native country. The article examines the principles propounded by the Indian judiciary in these cases and the latest Indian legislative initiative to tackle the problem, the draft Civil Aspects of International Parental Abduction Bill, 2016, which was open for public comments. The article considers whether the Bill is in conformity with Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 and whether it provides a strong mechanism to tackle international parental child abduction.

International Parenting and Child Protection Matters Beyond the Specific Issue of Parental Child Abduction: The 1996 Hague Convention on the International Protection of Children

The globalisation of the economy and the increasing ease of travel have led to the internationalisation of families. Bi-national couples and families relocating from one country to another are now commonplace. The international element of family life often leads to complex legal situations – such as international parental abduction – when these families are facing a crisis. However, the scope of legal issues arising from the internationalisation of families and affecting children is wider than the abduction problem and can relate to relocation, access rights, urgent protection measures or transborder placement, to name only a few. This paper aims to present the 1996 Hague Convention on the International Protection of Children which establishes a comprehensive framework ensuring the effectiveness of the rights of children involved in a crossborder situation.

Section One: International Parental Abduction: New York Law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Section One: International Parental Abduction: New York Law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Interpreting the Hague Abduction Convention: In Search of a Global Jurisprudence

This Article is an expansion of the Brigitte M. Bodenheimer Memorial Lecture on the Family I delivered on February 19, 2004 at the University of California at Davis School of Law. Notwithstanding the reference to in its title, the Convention covers violations of custody rights more generally, encompassing wrongful removals or wrongful retentions of children up to the age of 16. The Convention takes a somewhat unique approach to the problem of international parental abduction. Rather than address the issue through jurisdictional rules and the recognition of judgments - which is the approach of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) and the more recent Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), as well as that of the new 1996 Protection of Children Convention - the Abduction Convention simply requires the of a child who has been wrongfully removed or retained in another Contracting State. If a child (up to the age of 16) habitually resident in a Convention country is wrongfully taken or retained in another Convention country, the authorities of the country to which the child is taken are required to return the child to the country of their habitual residence. With respect to a child who is brought to the United States, this is done by filing a Hague application for return in the state or federal court of the State where the child is located.

Adult Domestic Violence in Cases of International Parental Child Abduction

This article discusses the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and its impact on battered mothers and their children seeking safety in the United States. We discuss relevant articles of the convention, the extent to which adult domestic violence is present in cases of international parental abduction, and cases in which battered mothers have contested the forced return of their children to an abusive partner. We conclude with recommended steps needed in research, training, and legislation that may increase the likelihood of safe outcomes for battered mothers and their children.

Not Without My Daughter

In 1987 the book Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody became a worldwide best-seller. In the line of Mahmoody’s book, similar ‘true stories’ of western white women with oriental husbands were published. These books concentrate on topics like bad marriages, abuse and international parental abduction. In this article the books are analysed as popular culture products of orientalist discourse on mixed marriages. They are maternal melodramas in which women who are victims of their intermarriage become heroines by sacrificing themselves for the sake of their children. As ‘learned foolhardy women’ the authors of these stories are cultural reproducers of the West; their function is to warn other women not to enter into a mixed marriage and to warn western society about the dangers of racial and cultural intermixture.

International Parental Abduction and Its Implications for Social Work Practice: Great Britain to the United States

SUMMARY. Indications are that abduction of children by their own parents is on the rise and may increase further with the coming European Community and the relaxation of travel barriers between countries. A case example of an international parental abduction from Great Britain to the United States is used to illustrate some of the treatment issues confronting social workers who may come in contact with these families.