Signatories to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

The Custody Minefield Factsheets – Smartphone Series (optimised for smartphone users). Copyright Michael Robinson 2010, 2011.

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The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law that provides an expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to another. The Convention was drafted to “ensure the prompt return of children who have been abducted from their country of habitual residence or wrongfully retained in a contracting state not their country of habitual residence.” The primary intention of the Convention is to preserve whatever status quo child custody arrangement existed immediately before an alleged wrongful removal or retention thereby deterring a parent from crossing international boundaries in search of a more sympathetic court. The Convention applies only to children under the age of 16.

Signatory states include: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China (Hong Kong), China (Macao), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, FYR of Macedonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

To read the text of the Hague Convention, click on Hague Convention Smartphone Version, PDF Version or Outline in PDF Version (opens as a pdf).

Support

The Custody Minefield offers support forums where you can ask our team of experienced support staff questions about family law, the courts and separation. Collectively, we have answered more than 10,000 posts on other family law related support forums. Visit our Support Forum Page on The Custody Minefield website to find out how to register.

The charity Reunite (telephone number 01162 556 234) specialises in advising parents whose children are at risk of being unlawfully taken abroad, or who have already been removed, as does the Government’s International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (their telephone number is 020 7911 7047/7045).

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