hague convention on international child abduction a report committee on foreign relations united ...

159 Pages·2001·0.56 MB·English

1
106THCONGRESS " COMMITTEE PRINT ! S. PRT.
2d Session 106–76
HAGUE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL
CHILD ABDUCTION
Applicable Law and Institutional Framework Within
Certain Convention Countries
A REPORT
TO THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
BY THE
LAW LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
OCTOBER 2000
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
70–663 DTP WASHINGTON : 2000
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland
GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
ROD GRAMS, Minnesota JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota
JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri BARBARA BOXER, California
BILL FRIST, Tennessee ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island
STEPHEN E. BIEGUN, Staff Director
EDWIN K. HALL, Minority Staff Director
(II)
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CONTENTS
Page
FOREWORD ................................................................................................................ v
LETTEROFTRANSMITTAL ......................................................................................... vii
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... ix
Countries party to the Convention in this report:
Argentina .......................................................................................................... 1
Australia............................................................................................................ 5
Austria ............................................................................................................... 14
Republic of Belarus .......................................................................................... 20
Canada .............................................................................................................. 26
Cyprus ............................................................................................................... 32
Czech Republic .................................................................................................. 38
Denmark............................................................................................................ 40
France ................................................................................................................ 43
Republic of Georgia .......................................................................................... 50
Germany ............................................................................................................ 55
Greece ................................................................................................................ 62
Hong Kong ........................................................................................................ 70
Republic of Ireland ........................................................................................... 74
Israel.................................................................................................................. 80
Italy ................................................................................................................... 91
Luxembourg ...................................................................................................... 95
Monaco............................................................................................................... 97
The Netherlands ............................................................................................... 101
Panama.............................................................................................................. 105
Poland ................................................................................................................ 107
South Africa ...................................................................................................... 119
Sweden .............................................................................................................. 124
United Kingdom ............................................................................................... 127
Zimbabwe .......................................................................................................... 136
APPENDIX
Text of Hague Convention [TIAS 11670] ............................................................... 141
Party Countries and Effective Dates with United States .................................... 149
(III)
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FOREWORD
January 2001.
In recent years, the Committee on Foreign Relations has devoted
considerable attention to the problem of international parental ab-
duction, which occurs when one parent removes or retains a child
overseas in violation of a custody order or agreement. In October
1998, the Committee conducted a hearing on this issue, and re-
ceived testimony from the Attorney General and several parents
who have been ‘‘left-behind’’ (that is, their children were taken
abroad by the other parent). In 1998 and 1999, the Committee in-
cluded legislative provisions in the annual Foreign Relations Au-
thorization Acts addressing this issue, namely by requiring the De-
partment of State to submit thorough reports to Congress on the
issue and by mandating that the Department provide additional
manpower to the Office of Children’s Issues, which is the Depart-
ment of State’s lead office for handling these cases.
This compendium was prepared by the Law Library of Congress
at our request following the aforementioned Committee hearing.
During the hearing, one witness expressed frustration that there
was ‘‘no central repository of reliable information’’ with basic data
on foreign legal systems. This report begins to close this informa-
tion gap by reviewing the laws and procedures of certain nations
which are party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction. The initial report covers 25 coun-
tries which are party to the Convention. The Law Library is con-
tinuing work on reports about several other Convention countries.
We express our deep appreciation to the Law Library staff mem-
bers who contributed to this report. We hope the report and subse-
quent editions will be useful to parents and other readers.
Honorable JESSE HELMS,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Honorable JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.,
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
(v)
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,
LAW LIBRARY, DIRECTORATE OF LEGAL RESEARCH,
Washington, DC, August 28, 2000.
Honorable JESSE HELMS, Chairman
Honorable JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.
DEAR SENATOR HELMS AND SENATOR BIDEN:
The attached reports are submitted in response to your request
that the Law Library of Congress prepare a series of reports con-
cerning the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.
The purpose of these reports is to identify the applicable law and
institutional framework within each of the Convention countries as
an aid in understanding how the Convention is implemented do-
mestically in those nations.
The initial series of reports covers 25 countries that are party to
the Convention. Work is underway to complete the next phase
which will provide reports for an additional 8 of the remaining 29
Convention countries (excluding the United States). As some of the
foreign legal specialists who are developing the reports are respon-
sible for more than one country (in some cases up to six countries),
we anticipate that the remaining reports, apart from the 8 that
constitute the next phase, will be submitted to the Committee over
the course of a number of months.
We trust that these reports will be of value to the Committee
and to other readers.
Sincerely,
DAVID M. SALE,
Director of Legal Research.
(vii)
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INTRODUCTION
At the request of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the
Directorate of Legal Research of the Law Library of Congress is
preparing a series of reports concerning the implementation of the
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Ab-
duction. The purpose of these reports is to identify the applicable
law and institutional framework within each of the Convention
countries as an aid in understanding how the Convention is imple-
mented by the nations that are party to this treaty. This work is
being developed in stages and the initial reports cover 25 countries
that are parties to the Convention.
For each country covered in this initial installment, the reports
contain a uniform format with the following five major categories
of assessment specifically relating to the Convention: domestic laws
and regulations implementing the Convention (Part I), domestic
laws regarding child abduction and parental visitation (Part II), the
court system and structure for the courts responsible for handling
cases arising under the Convention (Part III), the law enforcement
system (Part IV), and legal assistance programs (Part V). The re-
ports are current as of the date indicated on each document. In ad-
dition to identifying applicable statutes, the reports also note case
law developments in those countries where domestic courts have
applied the Convention.
The mission of the Directorate of Legal Research is to provide re-
search and reference services to the Congress on foreign, inter-
national, and comparative law. These initial reports involve the
work of 17 members of the Directorate’s current staff of 23 multi-
lingual foreign legal specialists. The reports were edited by Ms.
Alicia Byers, principal editor, and by Ms. Natalie Gawdiak and Ms.
Sandra Jones.
DAVID M. SALE,
Director of Legal Research,
Law Library of Congress.
(ix)
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