Mani Singh Basi examines the benefits & limitations of the Hague Convention in child abduction cases
- The Hague Convention exists to secure the swift return of children who have been wrongly removed from their home country.
- However, when a child has been abducted to a country that is not part of the Convention, securing their return can be much more difficult.
In the July edition of NLJ, I published ‘Holiday abductions: far from home’ (NLJ, 22 July 2022, p8), which touched upon the 1980 Hague Convention in respect of wrongful removal/retention cases when a child does not return from a planned holiday. This article considers the limitations (if any) of the Hague Convention 1980.
Barriers to a swift return
The Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (‘the Convention’) is a treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. At the time of writing, there are 101 contracting parties to the Convention.
There are many benefits that arise directly from the Convention.
