International child abduction

You may remember the sad case involving four sisters – the “Italian case” as it was sometimes referred to in the media.

The case involved a dispute between the parents as to whether their children should live in Italy (where they were born, where they had lived throughout their young lives and where the father was from) or Australia (where the mother was from). The mother had removed the children from Italy to Australia, where she wished for them to remain, without the consent of the father and the father wished for the children to be returned to Italy. The proceedings before the Court involved an application for the children to be returned to Italy – not to determine how much time they should spend with either parent.

Cases such as this – where a child has been removed from one country to another – involve complex issues above and beyond standard family law considerations.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is an international agreement which provides for children abducted or retained in another country to be returned to their former country of residence.

An application under the Convention - made by the Central Authority from each country, not by the parent themselves - can only be made to or from a country that has signed the Convention. 

Australia is a signatory to the Convention. As are 91 other countries:

Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, UK and Northern Ireland, USA, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Japan is the most recent addition to that list – it only joined on 1 April 2014.

Australia also has bilateral agreements with two other countries: Egypt and Lebanon. The Federal Government will provide assistance to families affected by abduction to those two counties.

Cases involving the Convention are obviously highly emotional and difficult cases – but the Convention’s role is to provide some framework for the dispute and reflects an agreement amongst 92 countries that the “home” country is the correct forum for the dispute to be resolved in.

In cases involving countries that are not signatories to the dispute parties find themselves at the mercy of the laws of the country that the children have been taken to.