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Senate Passes International Parental Child Abduction Resolution

On December 4, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution to express the sense of the Senate on international parental child abduction (S. Res. 543).

Sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the resolution contains several findings, including:

  • International parental child abduction is a tragic and common occurrence;
  • The abduction of a child by one parent is a heartbreaking loss for the left-behind parent and deprives the child of a relationship with two loving parents;
  • Since 1988, the United States, which has a treaty relationship under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the ‘‘Hague Abduction Convention’’) with 69 other countries, has agreed with its treaty partners to follow the terms of the Hague Abduction Convention;
  • The Hague Abduction Convention provides a legal framework for securing the prompt return of wrongfully removed or retained children to the countries of their habitual residence where competent courts can make decisions on issues of custody and the best interests of the children;
  • According to the Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of the United States Department of State from April 2010, research shows that abducted children are at risk of significant short- and long-term problems, including ‘‘anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood swings, sleep disturbances, [and] aggressive behavior’’;
  • Left-behind parents may also experience substantial psychological and emotional issues, as well as financial strain, while fighting for the return of a child;
  • According to the United States Department of State, the number of new cases of international child abduction from the United States increased from 579 in 2006 to 941 in 2011;
  • In many countries, such as Japan and India, international parental child abduction is not considered a crime, and custody rulings made by courts in the United States are not typically recognized by courts in those countries; and
  • Japan is the only member of the group of seven major industrialized countries that has not yet become a party to the Hague Abduction Convention.

The Senate “calls on all countries to become a party to the Hague Abduction Convention and to promptly institute measures to equitably and transparently address cases of international parental child abduction.” It is the sense of the Senate that the United States should “vigorously pursue the return of each child abducted by a parent from the United States to another country through all appropriate means, facilitate access by the left-behind parent if the child is not returned, and, where appropriate, seek the extradition of the parent that abducted the child.” The Senate urges the United States to work with countries that have not yet become a party to the Hague Abduction Convention to “develop an institutionalized mechanism to transparently and expeditiously resolve current and future cases of international child abduction that occur before those countries become a party to the Hague Abduction Convention.