A resolution (H. Con. Res. 293) calling for compliance with a treaty on international abduction was approved, by voice vote, on May 19 by the House International Relations Committee. Hearings held last October focused on kidnappings by parents who violate custody orders by taking their children out of the United States (see The Source, 10/15/99, p. 5; 10/29/00, p. 3).
The hearings highlighted the treaty, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which was ratified by the U.S. in 1988 and includes 53 other countries. The treaty provides a legal avenue for parents to seek the return of an abducted child. Hearings conducted under the treaty can result in a mandate for the return of an abducted child, although the return is not guaranteed.
H. Con. Res. 293 describes Article 13 of the treaty, which provides “a narrow exception to the requirement for prompt return of children…if it is established there is a ‘grave risk’ that the return would expose the child to ‘physical or psychological harm or otherwise place the child in an intolerable situation,’ or ‘if the child objects to being returned and has attained an age and degree of maturity at which it is appropriate to take account of the child’s views.’” However, according to the resolution, some countries participating in the treaty, “for example Germany, routinely invoke Article 13 as a justification for nonreturn, rather than resorting to it in a small number of wholly exceptional cases.”
The resolution also describes Article 21, which provides for the arrangement of parental visitation in resolving international abduction cases. It states that “denial of parental visitation” is a consistent problem with treaty participants including Austria, Germany, Honduras, Mexico, and Sweden.
The nonbinding resolution calls on all countries participating in the treaty “to comply fully with both the letter and spirit of their international legal obligations under the Convention.” H. Con. Res. 293 also emphasizes “the need for immediate action when a parent of an abducted child seeks their assistance.”
